So Totally In Love With You
by The Kobold Necromancer
Summary: Harold loves Bridgette, but he cannot confess to her. Leshawna loves Duncan, so she teases him. Beth loves Justin, so she crushes on him. Izzy and Ezekiel love each other, and it's as wild and crazy as this AU of TDI! Love all around and crack pairings!
1. This Justin, Beth Loves Him

**Title** - So Totally In Love

**Disclaimer** - All rights belong to Teletoon, Cartoon Network, and the creators of TDI and TDA. No profit is being made in the making of the fanfiction. This alternate-universe episode of TDI contains stunts performed by written teens. Do not try any of this at home (except for the kissing, but with non-family members).

**The Kobold Necromancer's Warning** - This is an overly gushy and overly romantic story. If you can get past that, I still have loads of craziness and funnies. However, this is not going to be all sunshine and roses, because the path to good romance lies in some tragedy (no one's dying, I said romantic, not tragic).

This story is written as a V-Day exchange for **Winter-Rae**. I really hope she likes it, and go read her story! It's called _The Wedding_!

**Pairings** - **Harold/Bridgette**, **Duncan**/**Leshawna**, **Izzy/Ezekiel**, and **Beth/Justin**. Side and official pairings are **Gwen/Trent**, and **Lindsay/Tyler**.

**Rating** - Rated T for language, sexual innuendoes, mild violence, and other fun stuff that puts it right over K+.

**Time Setting** - It's just at the start of the first challenge, before the swap between Katie and Izzy is made.

* * *

**Chapter 1** - 4bidden Wuv

* * *

**(Challenge 1, Cliff Jump and Hot Tubs)**

The twenty-two teenagers were gathered up on top of the thousand-foot cliff. Most of them were terrified, some of them weren't that nervous. Four of them, however, were watching someone else rather than contemplating jumping.

Leshawna was fancying Duncan, especially now that he was wearing nothing but trunks. The loudmouth sister, though she didn't approve of his criminal antics, loved how tough he acted; it practically screamed to her that he was trying to hide a sweet interior. She was determined to get to it, because it made her heart flutter at the thought, though even she wasn't completely sure why.

Beth was all eyes on Justin. She couldn't help but stare, and no one could blame her. Justin was gorgeous, it was hard for any girl (and some guys) to take their eyes off them. Beth felt inferior and enamored at the same time; how could a little farm girl like her make friends with someone like him?

Ezekiel kept glancing at the redhead on his team, the one who called herself Izzy. Everything about her was completely new to him: that orange-red hair, that crazy name he never heard before, her personality, and just how attractive she was. Ezekiel had seen attractive girls on TV, but Izzy in person beat them all. Just those green eyes alone captivated him.

Harold was watching Bridgette, the surfer girl who was now looking over the side. She looked back at her teammates, and he took a deep breath to avoid swooning aloud. The lanky nerd had been fallen for the beautiful surfer, figuratively and literally (literally was at the Dock of Shame earlier that day, when she accidentally knocked him off the dock with her surfboard).

Chris Maclean was looking at the teenagers with a grin. He was focusing on those terrified, because that was the type of man he was: sadistic.

"Okay, folks," he said. "Time to start jumping! Killer Bass, since you're the aquatic-named team, you're going first.

Bridgette looked over the cliff one more time. "Oh wow," she said, then looked back at her teammates with a nervous smile, "So... who wants to go first?"

Harold wheezed in surprise. This was his chance! If he jumped first, he could surely impress Bridgette.

The lanky nerd cleared his throat and raised his hand. "I'll go," he said, approaching the edge.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, I'm not afraid of a little jump," Harold said, though when he looked over the side, he was afraid. Quite afraid, and his knees started to knock.

Duncan watched the nerd tremble, and he walked up behind him. "We don't have time for you to summon your courage," the punk said, and then he shoved Harold off the side.

Arms flapping in a panic, Harold wailed as he fell down and down, right into the safe zone.

"You jerk," Bridgette shot at Duncan, then looked over the side. "Harold, I'm coming!"

She leapt over the side, a graceful dive. After she landed inside the safe zone too, she came back up with a gasping Harold in her arms.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

After Harold had collected his bearings, he suddenly noticed that he was being held by Bridgette. His face went red.

"Um, I'll be fine," he stammered. "I was gonna jump away, you know."

Duncan was laughing up on the side. "Did you see how he flapped his arms?" he cackled.

Leshawna walked up to him, hands on her hips. "So you think that's funny, punk boy?"

"It is funny," he insisted. "Very very funny."

The loud sister smiled and quirked an eyebrow. "Really? Because I know something even more funny."

In a couple seconds, Leshawna was lifting Duncan over her head, and the punk immediately stopped laughing. "Hey, what are you doing?" he shouted, though he knew what she was going to do.

Chucking him over the side, the punk started to scream as he fell. He landed in the safe zone, and started shouting the moment he resurfaced.

"I'll get you for that," he roared up at the top of the cliff, shaking his fist.

Leshawna's pleased grin surprised her team, almost as much as her throwing an opponent over the side. Heather started shouting at her, but the sister didn't care.

"Oh, are we throwing our teammates over now?" Izzy asked Chris, an impish grin on her face.

"As fun as that would be to watch, no."

The redhead shrugged, and said to her teammates, "So who's next?"

Ezekiel looked over the side and swallowed. "I'm not sure I really want to jump this, eh," he admitted.

Izzy appeared right besides him, staring over. "You kidding, Zeke? This'll be fun!"

No one had ever called Ezekiel that before. He began to stutter, and Izzy took this as a sign of nervousness.

"Tell you what, why don't I," she said, and suddenly she picked up Ezekiel bridal-style, "help you jump over this thing!"

Before Ezekiel could protest, Izzy had already leapt off the cliff. Screaming and clinging onto her, the prairie boy barely noticed her cackling laugh as they plummeted.

After hitting the water and resurfacing, Ezekiel was still clinging to Izzy. "That was awesome," Izzy declared. "Better than the time I bungee-jumped off of a bridge! It wasn't that much fun, because I slammed my head on the bottom of the bridge coming back up-"

Her story was interrupted when someone hit the water next to them, causing Ezekiel to yelp and tighten his grip on Izzy. The being who had just jumped was Geoff, who pumped his fists into the air.

"That was totally wicked," the party animal cheered. He looked over at his two teammates, and his already wide grin somehow got wider. "My, don't you two look comfy."

Ezekiel just then noticed that he was holding Izzy close to him, and she, though she wasn't scared or startled, had her arms around his waist. He turned bright red as Izzy giggled.

"Zeke just needed a push," she said, smiling impishly. "Izzy didn't want to really push him, so she carried him!"

She looked at him with those bright green eyes that were making his knees go weak (luckily, he was underwater). "That okay, my Zeke?"

'My Zeke'? Why was his heart hammering against his chest? Why was his blood racing, red-hot? Why was his head swimming? He should be furious at this... this... _girl_, who had made a fool of him.

But he wasn't mad, he couldn't be. He could only mutter, "It's all right, eh."

* * *

After Eva and Tyler jumped, the Killer Bass's efforts came to a screeching halt. DJ and Courtney refused to jump, and Sadie could not convince Chris to let her be with Katie (there was no one up on the cliff for a teammate exchange). So the Killer Bass had three chickens.

The Screaming Gophers were next. Heather refused to jump at first, but one look from Leshawna reminded the queen bee that the loud sister was not afraid to throw people over the cliff. Heather jumped, with Leshawna, Lindsay, Gwen, Cody, and Trent soon to follow.

Beth stood near the edge, trembling. "I... I can't do thith," she whimpered. "I'm too scared."

Chris grinned and held up a chicken hat. Beth winced, then her eyes went wide when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You sure, Beth?" Justin asked, smiling that gorgeous smile at her. "We do need every point we can get."

"Aren't you scared?" Beth asked. "It's... tho far down."

"Of course I'm scared, everyone is scared. Here, let's make a deal," the male model took her hand in hers and held it. "You hold my hand, I hold yours, we'll both jump and not be scared. How's that sound?"

Beth was quite sure she wanted to jump now; jump for joy, that is. Her heart was swelling with such joy that it felt ready to burst.

"O-okay," she said, giggling and snorting in excitement.

They jumped, Beth screaming and squeezing his hand in terror. When they hit the water, she clung to him, shivering with fright.

"I... I thought I wath gonna die," she whimpered.

"We're both okay, you did great," Justin said.

Though she knew he had done this for the good of the team, Beth could not remember a time in her life where she had been more happy than now.

She was so totally in love that she didn't even notice when Owen jumped, causing a small tidal wave that washed her and Justin (and the boat and the sharks) onto the shore, soaking everyone again.

Noah noted the wreckage down below with a bemused smile. "How can one follow up on that act?" he asked Chris.

* * *

As the Screaming Gophers happily carried the crates with their newly-won wheelbarrows, the Killer Bass angrily shoved the crates by hand.

"Why are these things so heavy?" Harold asked Ezekiel, while adding, "Gosh!"

"I doo'nt knoo', eh," Ezekiel admitted. "But... shouldn't we be helping the girls?"

"Huh? Why do you ask that?"

"Because girls aren't as strong as... guys... are..."

Ezekiel stopped when he noticed Eva carrying a crate over her head. The two boys stopped to stare and marvel at this.

"Dude," Harold muttered, "I don't think they need help."

"Yeah," Ezekiel conceded, then added, "Wow."

In a couple minutes, however, Harold saw Bridgette struggling to push her crate. The surfer girl was sweating, her face red from the heavy effort. To Harold, she still looked really pretty.

"Need some help, Bridgette?" he asked before his mind could double-check if this was the right thing to say.

Luckily, it was. She looked at him appreciatively and said, "Could you? I think Chris put weights in this one or something, it's really heavy."

Harold marched over, a man with a mission. He began to push the crate with Bridgette, and they hadn't gone ten feet before their first injury.

The surfer girl accidentally stepped on his foot, right on his toes, and she had been putting a lot of force in her steps with the pushing. Harold cried out in pain and fell on his butt.

"I think you broke one," he wailed.

"I'm so, so sorry, Harold," she exclaimed, helping take off his shoe. Most would think they were being overly dramatic, but Harold had a low tolerance to pain, and Bridgette did cause a lot of painful accidents in her life.

She took off his sock and inspected his foot. "Don't worry, I know first-aid," she said as she looked at each toe. His heart began to hammer as she touched him, and he tried not to giggle (he was fairly ticklish on the bottom of his feet).

As she continued to look at his foot, Duncan walked by them. The punk was not pushing any crate, he was on a mission of his own. Catching up with the Screaming Gophers, he tapped Leshawna on the shoulder.

"I want to talk to you," he growled. She turned around and smirked at him.

"What about, punk boy?"

"You know what," he snapped, throwing his fists down. "You throwing me off the cliff!"

"Oh that. What are you complaining about, I threw you in the safe zone."

"Don't give me that, I-"

"I didn't know you'd be such a baby about it."

Duncan sputtered indignantly. "Me, be a baby? Look sister, I don't know what hood you roll from, but I don't-"

Leshawna's laughter interrupted him, and he fumed as she said, "You trying out my slang there? It doesn't suit you, Baby Boy."

"Oh no no no, you did _not_ just call me that," Duncan shouted. "You are seriously trying my patience, you... you... large woman!"

His shirt collar was in her fist in a flash, and his face was yanked right up to hers. "You did not just call me that," she growled. "Got it?"

"You started it."

"Perhaps I did. But jokes about my weight are off, you got that?"

"Fine, just don't call me 'Baby Boy'."

"I won't. At least, not in front of others."

"No! Just...," he growled, then sighed. "Look, Leshawna... Leshawna, right?"

"That's my name, sugar."

"You don't humiliate me in front of my team, I won't embarrass you in front of yours. Got it?"

"What makes you think you could, Baby Boy?" she said before turning around and strutting off.

Duncan was staring at her butt for a few seconds, watching her go. Then he slapped his forehead and grumbled to himself. "_Damn it, what's come over me?_" he thought. "_Watching that big booty... that's not what I prefer! What's that woman doing to me, why does she look at me like that? Why-_"

"Duncan!"

Courtney's shrill cry interrupted his thoughts. "Why are you just standing there doing nothing?" the CIT shouted. "Get to work! Go help Sadie, she's not even pushing a crate right now."

"Why?"

"WHY?! We are behind in this challenge, you moron! We have to catch up, or-"

"No, why isn't Sadie pushing a crate, princess?" he snarled.

"Because she's too busy crying over not being with her friend Katie. Now go help her! And don't call me princess!"

* * *

Beth managed to work up her pace to catch Justin. Both were lugging crates on wheelbarrows, though he made it look easy.

"Um, Justhtin?" she said in a very low voice. He didn't hear, so she cleared her throat and said louder this time, "Justin?"

"Yes?"

He looked over at her, the mere acknowledgment making Beth smile fondly. "Um, thank you for helping me with that challenge," she said, turning red as she spoke.

"No problem, Beth. What are teammates for?"

Beth nodded. She was sure it had been that, just helping a teammate and nothing more. She couldn't help but feel upset about that, but the fact that he noticed her, _her_, was good enough.

"I... I promith I'll be a better teammate from now on."

"_Why am I saying_ that?!" she thought to herself. "_Do you want him to think you're completely useless_?!"

"Don't worry, Beth. We've got this one in the bag," he replied, flashing a grin. "And I'm sure you'll be helpful in the future, heck, you're doing your part now."

Her heart fluttered again. She was so totally in love.

* * *

The construction of the hot tubs went exceptionally wrong. Bridgette whacked Harold with a board accidentally, and she, apologizing every other breath, tended his wounds again. Ezekiel was so busy staring at Izzy that he put the nails in wrong, and Duncan constructed the pool's engine incorrectly because he kept glancing at Leshawna (catching her glancing at him more than once).

When it was time to be judged, the Killer Bass tub fell apart after Chris poked it a couple times. The Screaming Gophers had won.

At dinner, Courtney brought up the unpleasant truth that someone had to be voted off. "We have to talk about this," she said matter-of-factly, "no matter how much we don't want to." The bug bite around her eye had swollen up over her eye, and she couldn't open it any more. That and the chicken hat made the others wonder why they were letting this girl lead.

"What about you, princess?" Duncan asked, pointing at the CIT.

Leshawna overheard this from the Screaming Gopher table, and smiled. "_Hmmm, he's straight forward,_" she thought. "_I like that... hell, I love it, even._"

"I really don't want someone who reminds me of the prison matron," Duncan continued.

"Referring to your criminal past makes you less likable, you creep," Courtney hissed. "I have a better knowledge of who is more valuable, because I-"

"We know," Bridgette cut in, annoyed. "You used to be a CIT! So who would you vote off?"

Courtney didn't have to think about it. "Him," she shouted, pointing at Ezekiel.

"Huh? Me?" he asked, quite startled.

"Yes, you! I heard you on the beach! You said girls weren't as strong as guys!"

Bridgette and Eva both glared at Ezekiel. The fitness buff cracked her knuckles and said, "Is that true, Home School?"

"Um... well... errr... the fact is...," he stammered, then let out a defeated sigh. "Yes, I did say that, eh."

"All right then, you're _dead_," Eva bellowed, getting up and storming over at him. Both Courtney and Bridgette looked delighted to see this.

Someone blocked Eva's path, however. Someone with red hair.

"Now don't go jumping all over him, he doesn't know any better," Izzy said, shaking her finger at Eva.

"Why are you defending him?" Eva barked. "You should be offended, you're a woman, aren't you?"

"Last time I checked, I have boobs, yep," Izzy said, then sat down next to Ezekiel. Ruffling his toque, she continued to say, "But my Zeke here has a lot to learn about the real world!"

Ezekiel looked at Izzy, not sure what to make of her. All he knew was that she was defending him, and he didn't even know why.

"He could at least apologize," Bridgette grumbled.

"Why?" Izzy asked. "He didn't say that to you. He didn't even say it in spite. So he-"

"No, no, it's okay, Izzy," Ezekiel said, taking a deep breath. He looked over at Bridgette and said, "I'm soo'ry. It's like Izzy said, I didn't knoo' better.

"But Eva proved me wrong when I saw her carrying that crate over her head," he said, looking over at the furious, buff girl, "so I really doo'nt think that any moo'r, since I knoo' she could break me in half. You ladies, especially Izzy here, proved me wrong really fast, eh."

There was silence at the Killer Bass table, and then Izzy cackled. "Wow, now there's a real man," she cheered, throwing her arms around Ezekiel and hugging him tight. His face went red, it was the second time that day that this girl had done this.

"Fine, whatever," Courtney said, shrugging. "I still don't like him, but who are we voting off then?"

Duncan shrugged, then jerked a thumb at Sadie, who was moping at the end of the table. "Something tells me she's not going to be that helpful with her friend on the other side."

* * *

It ended that night with Sadie being voted off. When Katie found out, she cursed the Killer Bass team and vowed revenge.

Duncan scoffed this off. He caught Leshawna watching him again. "You gonna stare at me all the time?" he grumbled to her.

"Depends, Baby Boy. You're cute when you're trying to act tough."

"I don't act tough, I _am_ tough! And I thought I told you not to call me that!"

"No one tells Leshawna what to do, sugar."

Duncan growled, then stopped. He smirked at her, to her surprise. "Fine, call me that. Guess you didn't see what I did to embarrass you right back."

He jerked his thumb at the flag pole, and she saw, to her horror, that some of her underwear was hanging from it at the top. She gasped, then snarled at him.

"Why you little... GET OVER HERE!"

She began chasing him around the campgrounds, him laughing and her shouting death threats. Courtney watched this through her one good eye, and scowled.

"He's spending way too much time with her," the CIT grumbled. "I don't like it at all."

"Can't stop someone from flirting with someone else," Bridgette told her, "though I don't know if I'd like a guy who'd hang my underwear up like that."

Harold, standing next to her, snapped his fingers and pretended to cross off something on his hand. Bridgette recognized the joke with a laugh. Geoff looked down, wishing he had thought of that.

* * *

**(Challenge 2, Awake-A-Thon)**

"Tell me about life on the prairie, Zeke."

Ezekiel yawned, looking her over. She certainly looked exhausted, her beautiful green eyes half-closed. He shrugged and said, "Well, it's... open."

She giggled, then, to his great surprise, she sat down next to him and plopped her head in his lap. "More than that. Gimme a vivid description, so that I could picture it in my mind."

Bridgette watched Ezekiel stammer, and she couldn't help but giggle. "They look so cute together," she said to Geoff, who was sitting next to her.

"Cha. Boy, is he blushing. I don't think he's ever had a girl that close to him."

"Well, he is home schooled."

Harold was watching Bridgette and Geoff chat. He cursed himself for not having the foresight to sit next to her during this. He should have realized people would pair up to talk in order to stay awake. Gwen was with Trent, Izzy was with Ezekiel, now Bridgette was with Geoff.

Regardless of the accidents that seemed to follow her around when he was neared (she accidentally bushwhacked him during the marathon through the woods), he was still ever as enamored by her. He just wish he had the courage to talk to her like Geoff did.

But how could he? He had no experience in flirting with girls. The girls at school had labeled him a loser, not even the unpopular girls would associate themselves with him in fear of going down to the level of popularity food chain that he was currently at (the lowest).

Bridgette talked to him, though. She smiled when he joked, and she acknowledged his present. To him, that was a blessing and a sign of hope. If only he had the courage to follow up on her kindness.

Sighing, he went to his cabin, and he returned with a pad of paper and a pencil. He began to write out several haikus, all of them about Bridgette. "_Just hope no one sees this,_" he thought to himself.

Beth and Justin were chatting up a storm on the other side, but after about sixteen hours into the Awake-a-Thon, the model had run out of stories. He looked embarrassed when he admitted that.

"I guess I don't have as interesting life as I thought I did," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Only so many stories you can tell about photo-shoots."

"Well, you could describe that to me," Beth asked. "What are they like?"

"You know, I've actually talked about myself too much," he said. "Why don't you tell me something about yourself, Beth?"

She grinned, but before she could answer, Heather called her over. The queen bee wanted to talk about an alliance with her and Lindsay. Beth kept looking over at Justin, who waved back to her when he caught her glancing.

Duncan, on the other side, let out a loud yawn. "This bites," he grumbled. "What a boring competition."

"You seem a little hot headed, Baby Boy," Leshawna, who was walking by him with a cup of water, said to him as she passed by. "Why don't I help you cool off?"

She poured the cold water on top of his head. He freaked and tried to brush it off. "What was that for?" he shouted.

"You've already forgotten about the deal with my underwear?"

"That was, like, two days again!"

"The ax forgets but the tree doesn't, Baby Boy."

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?" Duncan grumbled. "Why do you enjoy irking me so much? You want me to get really mad?"

"You ain't got it in ya, sugar," she said, flicking his nose playfully before walking off. Duncan was once again watching her strutting off, and his eyes were focusing on that curvy butt of hers.

Swearing to himself, he slapped his forehead. "That woman," he groaned.

* * *

**(Challenge 3, Dodge Ball Brawl)**

The Killer Bass were hurting for a win. After losing the Awake-a-Thon and voting off the overly temperamental Eva, they realized their chances of winning one were dropping like a stone.

Especially since Tyler and Harold couldn't throw worth a spit.

"Sit your ass down, and keep it there for the rest of this challenge," Courtney roared at Harold, who did as he was told with a sad expression. "God, Harold! What with your snoring and your 'mad skills', you'd better pray we win this, or you're next for the Dock of Shame!"

"Courtney, you're being way too harsh," Bridgette chastised her. "Harold was doing his best."

She put a comforting hand on Harold's shoulder, and the lanky nerd immediately perked up.

"Am I?" Courtney scoffed. "You're telling me he was any good out there?"

Bridgette began to stammer, looking at Harold apologetically. Before she could admit the awful truth, he said, "It's okay, Bridgette. I know I'm an idiot."

"Harold, that's not true-"

"It is true, now let's focus on the game," Courtney snapped.

Leshawna from the Screaming Gophers side looked at the sleeping Duncan and sighed. "Really wish he could have been here," she muttered.

"What, you like the idea of smashing his face in?" Noah remarked from behind his book. "Odd way of treating your crush."

Leshawna swiped his book, and jammed a finger against the tip of his nose. "Don't make me mad, bookworm. And don't call him that, got it?"

Noah normally would have fired off a smart-ass remark, but a mad Leshawna in his face made him think otherwise. "Erk, yes ma'am."

When Owen threw a dodge ball and nailed Ezekiel in the back of the head, Izzy roared. "No one hurts my Zeke like that," she shouted, hurling a ball right back and hitting Owen in the gut.

"Oh swirling milkshakes, that hurt," Owen moaned and fell down, causing a small tremor in the small court.

Izzy went to help Ezekiel up, and then was pegged in the back of the head by Justin. "Great shot, Justin," Beth cheered from the stands, and the model waved to her.

Meanwhile, Izzy had been knocked down onto Ezekiel, and the two were sharing a blushing, awkward moment of her lying on him.

"Maybe later," she whispered to him, and though this confused him, she offered no explanation as she got up, helped him up, then they walked off the court.

After Duncan had been woken, the game went to the Killer Bass and they won two games in a row. The fifth match was getting really brutal, and some of the campers refused to go back on the court, nursing bruises and scrapes.

Bridgette, who still felt sorry for Harold, handed him a ball and offered for him to go on the court. Duncan ordered him to stand in the back, just as a ball hit the punk square in the face.

"Ha ha, got you good, Baby Boy," Leshawna shouted, pointing and laughing at him.

"Don't call me that, damn it," he shouted back, storming off the court.

Somehow, without anyone noticing, the number of players dwindled down to just Harold and Owen. The Screaming Gophers took a look at their player, then at the Killer Bass's, and burst into cheers.

The Killer Bass stared in horror. This game was practically over. "Who let Harold out there?" Courtney shrieked indignantly, and Bridgette very slowly raised her hand. Several members of her team glared at her.

"Nice job, blondie," Duncan spat. "We're dead now."

Harold felt anger he'd never felt when Duncan called Bridgette 'blondie'. He narrowed his eyes at Owen, and struck a couple karate poses.

His large opponent blinked, and ran towards him with four dodge balls in hand. He chucked them one by one.

Harold did a splits to avoid the first one, then he managed to stand and leap up to dodge the second. He did a quick lean to the right as the third ball shot past him.

Owen wound up for a powerful throw with the last ball, then chucked it right at his opponent. Harold leaned back, faster than anyone thought he (or anyone else, for that matter) could, and the ball sailed over him. He followed up with a backwards flip, back on his feet, glaring at Owen.

"Whoa," was all Noah said. It was the only thing all of the Screaming Gophers said, they were staring in a combination of astonishment and horror.

Courtney called for a time-out, and Harold sat down on the bench, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Harold, that was the most amazing thing I've seen," Bridgette gushed. His face, already red from strain, somehow became even more red. "How did you learn to do that?"

"Figure skating," he admitted. He took a swig of water from a Nalgene bottle.

"After the match, you teach Izzy some of that," Izzy requested.

"We gotta win this first, eh," Ezekiel pointed out. "Harold, the only way we can win this when Owen has all the dodge balls on his side is if you catch one, eh. Can you do that?"

Harold thought of how many bones would be broken if he caught a ball thrown by Owen. Then he thought about how happy Bridgette looked at him, and he grinned.

"Definitely," he said, punching his palm.

"What's got you so fired up, dude?" Duncan asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"It's something you wouldn't understand, my dear Duncan," Harold said as he stood up. "It's called 'inspiration'." 

* * *

**(Challenge 4, Night of the Talent Show)**

After Harold managed to catch Owen's murder ball, the Killer Bass had their first taste of victory, and they didn't want to lose it. Noah was voted off of the Screaming Gophers for being an uncooperative jerk.

When Chris announced the next challenge was a talent show, a lot of the campers were excited. Gwen, however, was not having a good time, as she was quickly getting fed up with Heather being such a condescending, self-appointed leader; also, Cody was following her all over, flirting with her.

The Killer Bass were having a hard time trying to find talent. Duncan's skills were either illegal or quite immoral. Tyler's yo-yo skills were less than impressive. Ezekiel archery skills were also not so thrilling.

"You kill deer with that?" Bridgette asked, looking horrified.

"Um, no, eh. It's just fur fun," he admitted. "But I have killed a moose!"

Bridgette sobbed and looked down at the ground. Geoff patted her back, and she smiled appreciatively at him. Harold sighed to himself, he didn't like it how he hadn't found the courage yet to talk to Bridgette, and Geoff was doing just fine.

As the Killer Bass members tried to show off their talents, Courtney and Duncan beat a hasty retreat when Izzy declared she had a wicked talent (both figured it involved fire or explosives).

It was neither, as Izzy put on a tape and started a swaying dance. "I call this the Dance of the Rattlesnake," she said as she continued to thrust her hips. "It is used to hypnotize the enemy into a state that makes it impossible for them to think straight, and then... you STRIKE!"

True to her statement, Ezekiel was watching her dance so closely that he never saw her hand coming. Grabbing his jacket, she yanked him up and pulled him close.

"Dance with me?" she asked.

"O-Okay!"

She took his hands in hers, pressed herself to him, and started to sway for the both of them. Ezekiel was so nervous that he started to shake, but after listening to her hum along with the music, he felt that hypnotic feeling again.

"You're comfy," Izzy cooed. "Really, really comfy. It's like your body was made to fit mine, my Zeke."

Ezekiel swallowed at this comment. Izzy was so forward all the time, shouldn't he have been used to it? But no, he could not get over how this pretty, wild and crazy girl was so into him, and if he dared say how much he was growing to like her, he was afraid she'd run away.

As the two danced, Ezekiel saw over his shoulder that Harold, Bridgette, DJ, and Geoff were all grinning at him and giving him approving thumbs-ups.

Meanwhile, at the Screaming Gophers, Heather had picked her three choices: Justin, Trent, and herself. Noticing that Gwen, the member she hated most, was spending time with Trent, she employed Lindsay to help her. She was so busy with trying to find out if Gwen was dating Trent that she didn't notice some more members of her team were off flirting.

Beth and Justin were back to talking to each other, and the farm girl was no longer blushing every time he smiled at her. She had actually grown so used to being with Justin, his gorgeous looks weren't stunning her; this upset and delighted him at the same time.

He actually didn't know what to think at this point of time. All girls did was fawn over him, but now Beth, who was interested in him more than any girl there, was _not_ fawning over him. Could his looks no longer impress her? That was impossible to him.

"_Maybe it's because she's seeing you more as a human being_," his inner being argued with him. "_And don't try to deny you like her too._"

He had tried to deny that. Though she was cute in some ways, her chubby face, braces, and her spit-flying lisp were major turnoffs. It was her innocent eyes, her plucky attitude, and, so very strange to him still, her snorting laughter that kept turning him back on.

Plus, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was another side to Beth that was hidden. He wondered what that was, and he was determined to find out.

* * *

The talent show started off great with Justin's performance. His bizarre but really hot dance that left him soaking wet impressed everyone, and left all the girls and Owen swooning.

"_Wish I looked that good_," Harold thought bitterly after Justin's performance. "_Maybe they would have let me perform if I had half of those good looks, gosh!!_"

Justin sat back down with his fellow performers, right next to Beth. "You were awethome up there," she gushed.

"Thanks, but I think I blew it," he said, sighing. "Only six out of nine points, I guess I'm losing your touch."

"I don't think tho. You were incredible, so don't doubt yourthelf, Justin," she said firmly.

That was it right there: the tough side of Beth that he hadn't seen yet. She was a stubborn and firm girl who said what she meant, and damned be the man or woman who told her off.

Now he was so totally in love with her.

"Thanks, Beth," he said, putting his hand on hers.

She looked very surprised, her face going red. When the shock wore off, she giggled nervously, and intertwined her fingers with his. He smiled back, his gorgeous face flushing slightly.

Heather saw this from the side of the stage. And she wasn't happy at all.

* * *

After DJ flopped and Trent soared, Bridgette was up next. She had had to replace Courtney after she had accidentally destroyed the CIT's violin.

Bridgette was not ready, though she wanted so bad to help her team after the major accident that she ignored her better judgment. Standing on her hands, she headed onto the stage to show she could stand on them for twenty minutes.

She didn't last twenty seconds before the combination of stage fright and the chips she had snacked on before the show came rushing up to her throat. Unable to stop herself, she started puking.

"Waaaaugh, I'm hit," Owen wailed as he looked down at his puke-covered shirt. "I'm hit! Man down! Ayieeeeeee!"

The surfer girl continued to puke, hitting Katie and Leshawna on the Screaming Gophers (causing the former to puke too), and Izzy on her own team.

"Oh, this is worse than that hockey tournament on the day they gave out free beer," Izzy wailed, looking down at herself. "Izzy having flashback now... GO MAPLE LEAVES, WOO!"

Bridgette slipped in her own vomit and fell into Tyler's lap. Lindsay was furious at the surfer for this action, but when she tried to play innocent to an accusing Heather, Bridgette pulled herself from Tyler and ran away sobbing.

"Wait, Bridgette, come back," Harold called out, chasing after her.

Chris announced they'd be taking a short break as they hosed the stage down. As Chef grabbed a hose and began to spray the stage down, Duncan got another hose and began to spray Izzy.

"Woohoo, wet t-shirt contest," Izzy crooned. "Just like at the hockey game too! Woohoo!"

As Duncan was done hosing her off, the redhead turned to Ezekiel and posed. "What do you think, my Zeke? Do I win the contest?"

Ezekiel's reply, to seeing her with her nipples poking under her now skin-hugging shirt and looking at him sexily, was to stammer unintelligently.

Leshawna on the other team grumbled and tried to wipe herself off. "Damn, what did that white girl eat?" she hissed.

Duncan came up with the running hose. "Need a cleaning?" he asked nonchalantly.

She was surprised at first, then smirked at him. "I knew you were a gentleman, Duncan."

"I most certainly am not, I just don't want people here smelling like puke."

"Sure," she said. The loud sister approached him, a sly smirk on her face. As he stared at her strangely, she grabbed the nozzle of the running hose and sprayed him right in the face.

"Blargha," was Duncan's first response, then he followed up with, "What the hell was that for?"

"You just look cute when mad, Baby Boy."

"Stop calling me that," he demanded before spraying her with the hose. The water splashed several of the other Screaming Gophers, causing them to shout in protest. Soon Duncan and Leshawna were wrestling for the hose, getting absolutely soaked. Though neither would admit it, it was fun to fight over the hose.

"Just go change your clothes and shower," Chris shouted at the Screaming Gophers. "We'll wait for you, we got a lot of commercials to show!"

Back at the camp, Bridgette was sobbing on the patio of the Killer Bass team. She didn't even hear Harold approaching her.

"Bridgette?" he said. When that didn't catch her attention, he sat down next to her. When she looked up, she jumped upon seeing him.

"Harold, when did you...," she started, then remembered just how unsightly she was. "Please, leave me alone."

"I can't do that."

"Yes, you can," she said, firmly. "I just made the biggest fool of myself out there, I look so awful, I feel awful... oh God, I can never show my face in public again."

She burst in tears again, covering her face. "I just puked all over everyone on international television! I'm never, ever going to live this down!"

Harold looked at her sympathetically, and rubbed her back. She didn't acknowledge it at first, but her crying eventually died down. She looked at him, her eyes and nose red; Harold felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach, just seeing her look so terrible.

"Bridgette," he said, then he realized that there wasn't much he could say. He sighed and said, "There is still hope."

"No, there isn't," she moaned. "After we lose this challenge, our team will vote me off. I can't blame them either."

"Bridgette..."

"Going home won't be so bad," she said as she wiped her eyes. "I... I can always work at the Surf Shack-"

"Bridgette!"

He put his hands on her shoulders. "I know things are bad, I cannot deny that. But there is always a chance. As long as you're alive and willing, there is always a chance!"

She stared at him, flabbergasted. Sighing, she shrugged and said, "Okay... I guess. But it's out of my hands."

"Maybe Geoff will be your knight in shining armor and win the contest."

As she let out a weak chuckle, he thought to himself rather harshly, "_You idiot, why'd you say that? You encourage her to have faith in your biggest rival? Idiot, idiot, idiot!"_

"All right then, Harold," she said, standing up. "I guess I should cheer on our final performance. What kind of teammate would I be if I wasn't there for the bitter end?"

"Yes! That's the spirit, Bridgette!"

* * *

The next performance was almost as brutal as Bridgette's vomit eruption. Heather, wearing a ballerina's tutu, sat down and read aloud Gwen's diary. Most of the audience, especially Gwen, was shocked and horrified; Cody was at first stoked, then crestfallen when he realized 'McHottie' was not him.

The goth girl fled the scene, and Bridgette felt terrible for the girl.

"That was so mean," Courtney spat out, glaring at Heather from behind the curtain. The CIT crossed her arms and added, "Has she no taste? No tact? That was her _teammate_ she just mortified, instead of performing!"

"She must be confident in their victory," Bridgette muttered.

And it seemed Heather guessed right, because Geoff accidentally broke his skateboard before he was even on the stage. Courtney and Bridgette were now panicking.

"What are we going to do?" the CIT wailed. "Duncan's talents are all unlawful, and we cannot trust any of the others!"

Bridgette nervously counted off her teammates. "There's Ezekiel, Tyler, Izzy, and Harold. Tyler's talent sucks, Izzy's still soaking wet, and Zeke's archery isn't going to be enough!"

"What are we going to do?" Courtney repeated.

They looked at their teammates in the bleachers. Harold was currently straightening out his underwear.

"Oh no no no no," Courtney began to chant.

"We... we have no choice," Bridgette conceded.

* * *

"Booyah," Harold concluded his beatbox routine on that last word, standing dramatically. Though he looked so calm and collected, his heart and mind were racing.

"_Oh dang, dang, that was so not good enough_," he thought. "_Idiot! I blew it, I really blew it-_"

The audience, Killer Bass and Screaming Gophers, burst into loud cheers and applause. Harold's jaw dropped as Chris came on applauding and announcing the Killer Bass's victory.

"He did it," Courtney cheered, embracing Geoff in a victorious hug.

"Harold," Bridgette cried out, rushing onto the stage, "that was _amazing_!"

She hugged him, catching him completely off-guard. He was so shocked that she, Bridgette, the loveliest girl on Wawanakwa was hugging _him_ that he almost missed what she said next.

"You just saved me," she said to him, barely audible over his pounding heart and the cheers from the Killer Bass. "Oh Harold, I don't know how I could ever thank you for this."

"_This hug is more than enough,_" he thought, and, summoning all the courage in him, he hugged her back.

"You're welcome, Bridgette," he said to her.

"You're awesome, Harold."

He was so totally in love.

* * *

Heather sneered at the camera in the confessional can. "What I did to Gwen is not going to affect this vote in the least. Justin is getting way too close to Beth, and the only alliance that's allowed on this show is mine!

"So it's time for Mr. Good Looks to hit the road. Lindsay's vote is a cinch, Katie's so pathetically passive she'll do anything I say, Cody is in an even more pathetic state of shock that weird goth girl doesn't fancy him, and Owen... piece of cake.

"I know Beth won't vote for him, so I'll just tell her to vote for someone else," the queen bee said, then laughed. "That stupid, pig-faced girl actually thinks Justin likes her? That's more pathetic than anything else I've witnessed."

* * *

As Chris handed out the marshmallows to the Screaming Gophers, he looked at the two that had gathered the most votes: Justin and Heather. The host sighed as he looked at Justin. This would hurt the host, because he saw a lot of himself in the male model. Handsome, crafty, charismatic, handsome...

Well, the handsome part was what stuck out most, but handsome should not harm handsome.

"Justin, I personally think this is very wrong," the host admitted, "but tonight, hotness just wasn't enough.

"The final marshmallow of the night goes to... Heather."

Justin slumped in his chair. Beth's jaw dropped, her eyes tearing up. Leshawna and Gwen were glaring murderously at Heather.

"Time to go, fellow handsome dude," Chris said, pointing to the Dock of Shame.

As Justin took off, Heather called out haughtily, "Later, _dude_!" She popped the marshmallow in her mouth and strutted off.

Beth watched as the male model, hanging his head and arms in misery as he started to walk upon that accursed dock. She couldn't stand seeing him look so downcast.

"Justin," she called out, "wait!"

She ran as fast as her little legs could take her. He turned to her, and managed to smile. "Hey Beth," he said, his voice cracking from emotion.

"Justin, I'm tho thorry," she cried out, her hands clasped in front of her. "I don't know how thith happened, I don't know why you were voted off!"

"You mean you didn't vote for me?"

"No, of courth not! I could never do that! You're a great guy, one of the greatestht guys I've ever met!"

Justin never felt so moved in his life; for the first time in his life, he was in love with something else besides his reflection. She had so totally trumped his reflection.

He knelt down, placed a hand on Beth's shoulder and kissed her. She was startled at first, then she put his hands on his beautiful face and kissed back.

When they separated, she whispered, "Will I thee you after the show?"

"You can bet your pretty little head on it, Beth," he whispered back. "I'll miss you."

He walked away from her, wishing more than anything that this moment wasn't caused by him being voted off. "See you later, guys," he called out to his team as he boarded the Boat of Losers. "Good bye, Beth!"

"Bye, Justin," she called out, waving at the end of the dock. "Bye! Bye!"

She stood there, watching the boat and Justin grow smaller and smaller into the distance. With tears in her eyes, she continued to wave as long as he did.

And then he was gone, too far away for her moist eyes to see.

* * *

--

--

--

In case any of you are confused why Izzy is with the Killer Bass, it's because in this story, the switch was never made between her and Katie. So Katie is with the Screaming Gophers, and Izzy is with the Killer Bass.


	2. Love is Ezzy

**Disclaimer** - All rights belong to Teletoon, Cartoon Network, and the creators of TDI and TDA. No profit is being made in the making of the fanfiction. This alternate-universe episode of TDI contains stunts performed by written teens. Do not try any of this at home (except for the kissing, but with non-family members).

**The Kobold Necromancer's Warning** - This chapter gets pretty emotional at the end, especially if you happen to like Harold. As a Harold fan, it was hard for me to write this, but I made it through. And if I can, you should do. You have been warned.

* * *

**Chapter 2** - Elation and Shame

* * *

**(Challenge 5, Outdoor Survival Challenge)**

The Screaming Gophers were pretty much in a bad mood when it came time for the fifth challenge.

Beth had been miserable ever since Justin had been voted off. Gwen was miserable over Heather reading her diary to the world. Cody was miserable because he knew Gwen preferred Trent over him because Heather read Gwen's diary. Trent was miserable because Gwen was so miserable over the diary thing that she wouldn't talk or even look at him.

Heather was over-the-top furious at Gwen for dumping a red ant farm on her when she was sleeping. And she was adamant about Gwen being voted off next.

"You're the one who read her diary to the world," Leshawna snapped at Heather when the queen bee tried to point this out to the others.

"Can it, Leshawna. You'd better not push your limits, because we all know you have a thing for Duncan of the other team."

This caught the interest of the others, because most of them were _not_ aware Leshawna had a thing for Duncan.

"Yeah, that's right, just you try to point blame somewhere else, you skinny white girl," Leshawna shot back. "I'd like to see how many people trust you after you've betrayed a fellow teammate."

* * *

"Wow," Geoff said to Bridgette as he helped the surfer girl prepare the tent for the night, "you pitch a tent like a guy!"

Silence. Crickets chirped. Bridgette stared at Geoff with a very unpleased expression.

The silence was broken when Harold and Tyler almost let loose their suppressed laughter, making coughing and wheezing sounds.

"I mean," Geoff hurried to correct himself, "you're not girly about getting dirty and stuff!"

"Gee, thanks," Bridgette replied sarcastically.

Harold and Tyler burst out laughing, earning frowns and glares from the others but the two boys didn't care.

"I wonder if there are any bears out there," Izzy said, grinning impishly. "Wouldn't that be funny if a bear came at us?"

"How would that be funny?" Courtney snapped at the girl.

"I dunno, I think just the expressions on everyone's faces would be priceless," Izzy admitted. "I love scaring people, because some people like my Zeke look so cute when scared!"

The crazy girl winked at Ezekiel, who stared at the redhead awkwardly. Duncan scoffed when he saw Ezekiel shrug and turn away.

"She's totally emasculating you, dude," the punk said to the prairie boy.

"She's just teasing me, eh."

"You let a girl tease you, pretty soon she's gonna be walking all over you."

"Right," Ezekiel replied, his voice now getting sarcastic. "I guess I should take life advice from the guy who's got a record befur he is legally an ay'dult, eh."

"Just trying to help you, dude. You date a girl like Izzy, you're going to be in the hospital or worse."

Ezekiel glared at the punk. "You watch it! I happen to like her very much. I doo'nt insult the girl you like, eh!"

"I don't like any girls here, _eh_."

"That's a laugh," Ezekiel and Courtney said at the same time.

* * *

Later that night, the group had gathered around the fire. DJ, with his new pet Bunny, was looking at them, wondering why a lot of them looked so frustrated.

"Okay people, there's something we need to talk about," Courtney said, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention.

"We gonna sing Kumbiya, princess?" Duncan asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Not my style, especially not the whole holding hands part."

"No, you ogre, I want to talk about loyalty."

" 'Loyalty'?" some of them repeated.

"Yes, loyalty. Specially, I mean Duncan and Tyler!"

The two boys looked surprised as Courtney crossed her arms. "I think we're all aware that you two have been seeing a couple of the Gopher girls on the side."

"No way," Duncan grumbled.

"So?" Tyler declared at the same time.

"Tyler, that's a big sign of betrayal to us," Courtney chastised him. "If you're reaching first base with the _enemy_, how can we trust you to do your best in challenges?"

"I haven't thrown any challenges for her!"

"What about the dodge ball game?"

"That was... well... we won that, didn't we?"

"After you stopped playing, yes."

Tyler looked like he had been kicked in the guy as Courtney rounded on Duncan. "And you, Duncan! You've been seeing Leshawna, haven't you?"

"I have not."

"Oh really? We should just take your word for it, _criminal_?"

"Look princess, you're the only one here who believes I'm seeing her."

"Izzy knows you like her," Izzy said. The redhead was sitting next to Ezekiel, and was grinning at Duncan. "Izzy sees the way you look at that girl's can! Wooooo, Duncan likes Leshawna's can!"

"Cut that out," Duncan and Courtney shouted in unison. Izzy did stop talking, but she was giggling.

"Look, I really don't care what you or Tyler do _after_ the teams have been dissolved," Courtney continued. "But I'm not having you two ruin the contest for us because you wanted to score. Got it?"

Tyler realized this was a battle he couldn't argue and win, so he grumbled, "Fine."

Duncan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Whatever. It's not like I fancy Leshawna, as much as you think I do."

"_Except that I do_," he thought right after he said that, and had to resist slapping his forehead over that thought.

* * *

Late at night, Bridgette squirmed uncomfortably among the others. She finally sat up, straining.

"What's the matter, Bridge?"

Harold's wheezy voice surprised her, and she let out a little gasp. "I... gotta pee like crazy, but I'm too scared to go out there."

"There aren't any bears nearby, Izzy was just trying to scare us."

"No Harold, I...," she took a deep breath, "I'm scared to be out in the woods alone."

Harold blinked. While part of his mind wondered how nature-loving Bridgette feared the woods, the other half wondered if it would be inappropriate to volunteer to go out there with her.

"_Gross,_" he thought to himself. "_How are you going to ask her that? 'I'll stand out there while you pee?' Harold, you idiot! There's gotta be a better way to..._"

He took a deep breath and said, very slowly as if waiting for a bomb to go off between each word, "You know... I... could... sit at the front of the tent... with my back turned, of course! ... And that way... you wouldn't be alone..."

She looked at him for a second, not the weirded out look she had given Geoff over the tent pitching comment. Still, he waited for her to call her something like 'freak' or 'sicko' or 'you're disgusting'.

Instead, she smiled, that pretty, heartwarming smile of hers.

"Thank you, Harold," she said, standing up and leaving the tent. She looked around for him to follow, and he did, still startled she was not furious at him.

He sat with his back to her, and waited. Harold was concentrating on not listening that he didn't hear the bats come flying, but he did hear Bridgette shriek.

Whipping around, he saw a bat had somehow caught itself in the front of Bridgette's face, stuck in her bangs. The surfer girl screamed as she tried to not only pull the bat off, but was losing her balance.

With his ninja-like reflexes, Harold darted over, and caught her. Grabbing the bat with his spare hand, he remember what Possum Scouts had told him about removing bats stuck in your hair.

Just when he had freed the bat, Bridgette's flailing feet kicked one of the burnt sticks from the campfire. The stick, still hot, hit the tent, and it burned up in a flash. The Killer Bass, who all had woken up from Bridgette's scream, looked around in horror.

Then they saw Harold holding Bridgette up, the surfer girl leaning against him for support. Both of them looked very embarrassed and waved sheepishly at their team.

"What," Courtney hissed, "did... you... do?!"

Bridgette swallowed. Courtney, as well as several other members, looked furious. Time to fess up. "I-"

"I accidentally burnt the tent down," Harold shouted before she could say anything more.

"You WHAT?" Courtney shrieked.

"Bats were attacking Bridgette, so I grabbed one of the sticks from the fire pit and swung it at them, and I accidentally let go of it and it hit the tent and," Harold paused as he looked at the ashen remains of said tent, "you know, that did go up rather fast. Was it made of flash fire material, or was it soaked in gasoline beforehand?"

"You... stupid... moron... idiot... asshole," Courtney cursed, holding up her fists. "This is just great!"

"Oh calm down, princess," Duncan snapped, though he too was glaring at Harold.

"I am not going to calm down, he burned down our tent!"

And then she said it.

"Things can't get any worse!"

A drop of water landed on her head. Then a few more. Then it began to pour from the sky. Courtney kept calm for three more seconds before she let out a furious scream.

* * *

Being cold and rained on was an awful feeling, and the Killer Bass were miserable. DJ covered Bunny as best as he could, his rabbit's safety most important to him.

Izzy, shivering, scooted over to Ezekiel. The prairie boy took her in his arms and held her close. She sighed in relief, and looked up at him.

"You read my mind, my Zeke."

"I wasn't a'boot to let my Izzy freeze to death in the rain, eh."

"Ooo, I'm your Izzy now? Goody," she giggled, and snuggled up close to him. The two, though still soaked and freezing, had each other's body warmth for comfort.

Geoff saw this and wrapped an arm around Bridgette. The surfer smiled at him appreciatively and curled up against him. Harold saw this, and his heart sank.

"_Damn it,_" he thought as he punched the ground. "_Why didn't I think of doing that?_"

* * *

Early in the morning, Harold woke up first. He looked around and saw Tyler and DJ sleeping back to back, Courtney in Tyler's lap. Duncan slept alone nearby. Izzy was lying on Ezekiel, and it amazed Harold how much the two looked like an actual couple; it was like they had snuggled for years, it looked natural for them.

"_I wish I had a camera,_" Harold said, smirking.

Then he saw Bridgette curled up against Geoff's chest, and he frowned. "_On second thought, no. Gosh, I'm such an idiot._"

He was still kicking himself for not acting last night when the others woke up. They started walking back to camp, most of them glaring at Harold.

"If we're not the first one's back," Courtney snarled at him, "you are so dead."

"Damn straight," Duncan said, cracking his knuckles.

"You kind of blew it there," Izzy remarked.

Bridgette let out a frustrated sigh. "Leave him alone," she snapped at them.

"Bridgette, he burned down our tent," Courtney remarked.

"No, he didn't! I did!"

The others were stunned, especially Geoff and Harold. "I accidentally kicked that stick when the bats came at me," she continued her confession. "Harold was trying to take the blame, but I won't let you guys vote him off over something I did."

"I don't believe this," Courtney groaned, shaking her head.

"Hey, it's all cool, Bridge," Geoff said, patting her shoulder. "I mean, that tent went up like, you know, that," he snapped his fingers, "so I doubt it could have withstood the rain."

"It could have," Duncan growled.

"Look, let's not focus on the negative any more," Geoff said, playing peacemaker. "Let's not blame Harold, let's not blame Bridgette, it was all an accident; we still would've been freezing."

Though Harold knew Geoff was just standing up for Bridgette, he appreciated how the party man was standing up for him too.

Tyler began laughing. "I don't think you would have complained, Geoff dude. Nor Bridgette, nor Ezekiel or Izzy."

"Ezekiel was a big, nice, wet pillow," Izzy cooed, wrapping her arms around Ezekiel's waist from behind.

Bridgette giggled when he saw Ezekiel flush. She looked over at Harold and smiled at him.

"Aren't they cute?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he said, though a bit distant.

"_If only I had been her nice, wet pillow_," he thought as he smiled back. "_Then again... she stood up for me nevertheless. Wonder if that means something more than just honesty._"

* * *

**(Challenge 6, Phobia Factor)**

Neither Bridgette nor Harold were voted off that night, because the Killer Bass made it back first. The Screaming Gophers, who looked miserable before the challenge started, were now miserable, soaking wet, and cramped. Turns out a bear had wandered into their campsite, and kept them all up a tree.

The Killer Bass had no idea why the Screaming Gophers voted off Owen when the victorious team joined them after returning from their shopping binge prize. Heather grumbled something about him calling the bear to their camp, but they doubted this; how could you call a bear?

This mattered not, because after DJ had a bad reaction to a passing snake, the campers all began confessing their worst phobias to the others.

"Izzy hates flying," Izzy confessed. "I could never do it, never ever. It's way too scary."

"Pine beetles," Ezekiel said with a shudder. "Never really recovered from that time when I was a kid and I got covered in them, eh. That's why I hate the outdoors like I do."

"Ugly hair," Katie admitted. "Sadie and I both fear it more than anything. It's so... creepy!"

"Chickens freak me out," Tyler said, then he glared as the other campers laughed. "What? WHAT?! I'm not laughing at your phobias, knock it off!"

* * *

The next morning, the campers were horrified when Chris announced that they would be facing their worse fears for the next challenge.

"Oh we just had to go and open our mouths," Bridgette muttered.

The challenge started with a very large vat of bugs of all kinds, made for Beth. Most of the contestants were shaken with fear and disgust, DJ puked hard, and Katie fainted.

Beth simply shrugged, and _dove right in_. She popped up with bugs in her hair, ears, and in her mouth.

"It's not ath bad ath I thought it would be," she proclaimed, shrugging her shoulders and smiling.

Her team applauded, Katie cheered and fainted again. Beth looked at the camera with bugs in her mouth and cried, "Justin, if you're watching thith, I missth you a whole lot!"

* * *

Beth sighed as she sat in the confessional can. "In retrosthpect," she groaned, "I really shouldn't have sthaid that when I was dripping with bugs."

* * *

With Beth setting the bar really high, many of the other campers were put on the spot immediately.

Bridgette was left in the middle of the woods and told she had to stay there, alone, for six hours. Katie and Lindsay were given bad hair. Gwen was buried alive in a coffin, with only a walkie-talkie to communicate with the outside world.

Izzy watched in horror as a small plane that looked barely able to fly landed nearby the campers. Chef, wearing a tight stewardess's outfit and a blond wig, beckoned the redhead to join him on the plane.

The crazy girl let out a scream of terror and clung to Ezekiel. "No no no no," she wailed. "Don't make me get on a plane, especially not with that tacky-dressed man!"

"What's tacky about this skirt?" Chef bellowed.

Izzy buried her face in Ezekiel's chest. "Can't my Zeke come with me?" she sobbed.

Ezekiel looked over at Chris hopefully, but the host shook his head. "You're going in this alone, Izzy. Go now or never."

The redhead swallowed, looking at the plane. She started to tremble. Ezekiel felt awful, his heart was breaking seeing Izzy so scared and helpless.

"Izzy," he said to her, trying to stay calm, "you can do this, I knoo' you can, eh." She looked up at him, doubt in her terrified eyes.

"If you pull this off, I'll do something really nice fur you, eh."

This perked her interest. "Ooo, what is that?"

"It'll... be a surprise?" 

"Ooo! Izzy loves surprises! Let me at that plane!"

She bounded into the plane and buckled up. Giving Ezekiel a thumbs-up from inside, Chef started up the plane and took off. The campers heard Izzy start to scream in terror as soon as the plane was up in the air.

"Now she's a flying nut case," Chris commented, and laughed. Ezekiel glared at the host.

* * *

The other campers were soon facing their fears. It wasn't fun for any of them except Chris, and the other campers really wished they could learn his fear to rub it in his laughing, sadistic face.

Leshawna was to pick up a giant tarantula, but panicked and ran.

Harold was to face ninjas, but he accidentally hit himself on the head with his nunchucks and knocked himself out.

Trent managed to outsmart the mime chasing him, but it left him away from his post of talking to Gwen.

Geoff panicked and ran from a cloud of hail, unable to face it. Trent remembered then about Gwen, and dug her out since her time limit had past; she was not happy about being left there.

Heather had to stand up to a sumo wrestler, and though she ducked as he charged, he tripped and bounced over her, qualifying as a win for her to Chris.

DJ, despite what most people thought, actually managed to pick up a tiny snake on his hand. His team congratulated him, feeling this was a real breakthrough for him.

Then it came time for Duncan's, something he was not proud of. The Celine Dion cardboard music store standee stood there in front of him, seriously creeping him out.

"Give her one hug, Duncan," Chris instructed him. "Just one hug."

His teammates watched him from the Killer Bass patio. The Screaming Gophers watched from the other side. Duncan continued to stare at the standee, trying to not to lose his lunch out of fear.

"Dude, she's made of cardboard," Tyler hollered, "get it together!!"

"Not helping," Duncan growled, though he was still sweating bullets looking at the thing. He looked over at his teammates, some of them looking hopeful and the rest not so much.

He then quickly glanced at the Screaming Gophers, all of whom looked hopeful for him to lose. All that is, except Leshawna. When no one else was looking, she winked at him.

Startled but strangely reassured, Duncan swallowed and ran to the standee. He embraced it in the most forced hug he could muster.

His team cheered, the Screaming Gophers (except Leshawna) sighed in disappointment. Duncan laughed in relief as he let go.

"I did it," he said. "I actually did it!"

"_Leshawna, I could kiss you,_" he thought.

* * *

The challenges continued. Cody was sent off to defuse a time bomb, and he didn't look very happy about being left alone.

The plane landed a few minutes later, Izzy leaping out. "I made it, I made it," she squealed with joy, then dropped down and kissed the ground very appreciatively.

"Ezekiel, I made it," she called out as she headed to the others. "Where's my surprise?"

"That'll have to wait, Izzy," Chris Maclean said. Izzy then noticed that all the campers were watching Ezekiel in a spacious circle, and the host was holding a small barrel.

"What's going on?"

"Ezekiel's phobia is next," Chris explained. "So let's see how home school does when covered in pine beetles!"

" 'Covered'?" Izzy and Ezekiel exclaimed at the same time.

Chris poured half of the contents of the small barrel on Ezekiel, the contents being pine beetles. The prairie boy let out a high pitched cry, shivering and hunching over.

"Okay, Zeke man, stay like that for half a minute, don't go anywhere," Chris said, "and you win."

Ezekiel looked absolutely petrified. Izzy was biting her nails. The seconds felt like hours to both of them.

Then Cody's time bomb went off, shaking the whole island. Ezekiel flinched, and then he started twitching and crying out.

"They're biting me, eh," he screamed. "They're biting me!!"

Chris scratched his head. "Pine beetles bite?" he asked. "Oh, well. Zeke, your time is up, you win."

With a bloodcurdling scream, Ezekiel ran for the beach and dove into the water. At exactly the same time, Bridgette came running from the forest, white as a sheet and panting hard.

"There's some kind of trash-covered monster in there," she wailed, before she fell over, whimpering in terror.

Chris burst out laughing. "Oh man, what classic timing! Zeke runs away like a girl, and in runs the girl!"

He continued to laugh, slapping his knee. Leshawna, Duncan, and Izzy were all angered by this quite a lot, and snuck up behind him. The large sister picked up the pine beetle barrel, and, exchanging sinister grins with the other two, dumped the rest of the beetles on Chris.

The host screamed like a girl and ran for the ocean water too.

* * *

After Chris recovered, the contest was coming hurriedly to an end. Lindsay and Katie both passed the bad hair test, and scored two points for their team. Both Tyler and Courtney failed to pass their phobias (chickens and green jelly, respectively), and thus the Killer Bass lost.

That night at the bonfire ceremony, the Killer Bass were all still shaken, and those who couldn't pass their tests were ashamed.

It came down to Bridgette, Courtney, and Tyler. Much to Harold and Geoff's delight, Bridgette was given the second to last marshmallow.

Then the final marshmallow was given to Courtney. Tyler looked ready to burst into tears when he realized he had just lost. With hunched over shoulders, he walked slowly towards the Dock of Shame.

"Sorry, Tyler," Chris said in a tone that clearly was not sorry. "Looks like you have to... _chicken out._"

Tyler stopped, and took a deep breath. "Oh," he said aloud, "what have I got to lose now?"

He turned around and ran his hands through Chris Maclean's hair, ruffling it as bad as he possibly could.

"No no no, MY HAIR," Chris wailed, and ran off screaming, trying to smooth it out. "No-ooooooooooo!"

The Killer Bass burst out laughing, and waved good-bye to Tyler, who felt infinitely better as he walked the Dock of Shame to the Boat of Losers.

As the Killer Bass walked towards their cabin, Izzy stopped in front of Ezekiel.

"Hey, Zeke, you said you were going to get me something if I passed my test," she said, smirking at him.

"Err, yes, I did, eh," he stammered. He nervously rubbed the back of his hand.

"Well? What is it?" Izzy bounced on the heels of her feet, eager.

Ezekiel summoned all his courage, took Izzy into his arms, and kissed her.

The Killer Bass all stopped and stared, their eyes wide and jaws agape. When Ezekiel was done with his kiss, Izzy was the most wide-eyed of them all.

First she smiled, her face flushing, then she scowled. "That's no fair," she cried out, "Izzy wanted to do that to you first!"

She wrapped her arms around Ezekiel's neck and kissed him. As he kissed her back, their teammates, even Courtney and Duncan, burst into cheers and approving catcalls.

Izzy and Ezekiel were so totally in love.

* * *

**(Challenge 7, Boney Island)**

When the campers had to pick their canoe partners, some were very eager to get in the same canoe as others.

Though Trent wanted to be with Gwen, Beth and Lindsay (under Heather's orders) had dragged him to theirs. Thus Cody picked up on this chance and asked Gwen; she was less than thrilled to be in the same canoe as him.

Geoff had waved to Bridgette, but the surfer girl quickly called out to Harold. The lanky nerd was ecstatic deep down, but maintained an almost-professional air about him, trying to play it cool. Still, nothing could wipe the smile off his face.

Courtney grabbed Duncan's wrist and pulled her over to her canoe, claiming she wanted to keep an eye on him. Geoff, feeling dejected, joined a nervous DJ; Izzy and Ezekiel, smiling fondly at each other, joined each other in the final canoe.

Once they were out in the water, Bridgette began spilling her heart out to Harold. "Geoff's been dropping me little hints here and there that he likes me," she told him, "but... he's kind of overdoing it."

"How so?" Harold asked, while thinking, "_Uh-oh, does this mean she doesn't like little presents? Better think twice about those poems._"

"He left me a present on my bed last night," Bridgette said, cringing. She described the poorly made, heart-shaped box with the really weird message on it, as Geoff was describing to DJ. Both DJ and Harold reacted as badly as they would to hearing about someone throwing up.

Bridgette pretended to strangle herself, gagging. She then shook her head and sighed. "I really don't know what to do," she admitted to Harold. "You're my friend, I was just wondering what you thought I should do."

"_Oh snap, this is my chance,_" Harold thought. "_Wait, is it? Yes it is! No it isn't! Gosh! Just tell her how you feel! Tell her! Tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her dammit, tell her!!_"

"I think," he said aloud, "that Geoff's just not good at conveying his feelings to you."

"_WHAT?_" part of his mind screamed at him. "_What the hell was that?!_"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

She was looking at him inquisitively. Harold couldn't help but notice how the wind was lightly fluttering her golden bangs and her ponytail. She looked like so pretty and pure and hoping.

"Geoff is just struggling, because he doesn't know how to approach you," Harold continued. "I mean, gosh, we're all stuck on this crappy island with cameras in our face, a host who'd play us for everything he can, and a rival team anxious to see us fall."

"_Oh yeah, that's great,_" he continued to chastise himself in his mind, "_help Geoff out in seeing Bridgette! What the HELL are you doing, Harold, gosh you idiot! What the f-_"

"But if he likes me, why can't he just come out and say it?" Bridgette asked. "I mean, Ezekiel did that with Izzy."

"Well, that was a little different," Harold said, forcing out a laugh. "Izzy had been cuddling him and calling him pet names. Those two had been staring at each other fondly for some time, they both knew they liked each other."

"True," Bridgette said, nodding as she rowed.

"I mean, she was snuggling him and saying how fond she was of him. You weren't snuggling Geoff..."

"_... though you were during the camping challenge, and that should have been _me_..._"

"... and he just doesn't know how to react. He's afraid of rejection, just like all guys are..."

"..._ just like how I'm afraid more than ever that you'll reject me since you and Geoff are starting to like each other..._"

"... and thus, he's trying to slip you little presents, because he doesn't want to risk rejection first hand."

Bridgette stared at Harold for a few seconds. "Oh man, Harold," she said, smiling at him, "are you a psychologist?"

"Well, I do sometimes read these things," Harold admitted, smiling proudly. "My sister has a lot of 'feelings' magazines in the bathroom, and after reading a lot of them, I think I have a good grasp on the psyche of the male and female."

As Harold scratched the back of his head, there was, in his mind, an image of him being throttled by a more aggressive version of Harold. "_That's what you say to impress her?!_" his aggressive form shouted as he throttled himself, "_You IDIOT!_"

Bridgette was smiling at him, but this did nothing to soothe his inner self-throttling; he still felt like an idiot.

"Thanks, Harold," she said. "I think I understand now, but it still was a crappy gift."

"Yeah, it kind of was," Harold said, chuckling.

"_Kind of? KIND OF?!_" he continued to strange himself in his mind. "_Geoff gives her a crappy coin container that has two pictures taped together, and a message that says, 'I hope you think of me whenever you drop loose change in here', and you say it was kind of bad?!_

"_Gosh, you frickin' idiot! Your haikus, at the least, have a flow to them!_"

* * *

The challenge didn't go well for Harold. Halfway through the contest, Geoff seriously hurt himself, and Bridgette spent every waking moment making sure he was all right. Though Harold wanted to snap at Geoff to get over it, the lanky nerd had a low tolerance for pain, and he would feel like a hypocrite for attacking Geoff over an injury.

Then, when Courtney declared they needed more wood, Harold seriously panicked and grabbed the paddles to the canoes, tossing him in the fire.

"Well, that was unnecessary," Izzy said matter-of-factly while everyone else glared at Harold, "since I got me this handmade fire igniter starter bombarder!

"Ehehehehehe... you all better stand back," she added quickly.

A mushroom cloud of fire rose up, knocking the campers away and sending Chris's helicopter backwards from the rush of wind. Whooping in joy, Chris declared the Killer Bass the winners of the fire contest.

"Be on your way back to Wawanakwa Island," he declared as he continued to hover over the Screaming Gophers.

"Yeah, we'll just rush over there now," Courtney grumbled, glaring at Harold.

"What are we going to do without paddles?" Bridgette shouted, also glaring at Harold.

Harold really wanted to hide under a rock right now, or throw himself in that raging bonfire. Anything to stop Bridgette from glaring at him; he didn't care about the others, just her.

"We don't need no stinkin' paddles," a soot-covered Izzy said as she wobbled over to the others. Ezekiel caught his blackened girlfriend, and she let out a whoop. "That was fun, wasn't it, my Zeke?"

"Wild, my Izzy."

"Wait, what were you saying about not needing paddles, Izzy?" Duncan asked.

"We can prop all the canoes on top of each other, and have someone push them all the way to Wawanakwa," Izzy said. "I did that once, with a bunch of other ingrates who seriously were not putting their backs into it."

"But that'd require someone really strong," Bridgette remarked, looking over the others; her eyes rested on the gentle brick wall. "DJ," she declared, "you can do it!"

"What?" Geoff balked. "You can't ask him to do it, the dude's afraid of water!"

DJ nodded, ashamed. Harold looked between the two, and declared, "I'll do it then!"

The others looked at him, and burst out laughing. Harold went red in the face, and looked away sulkingly. He saw Bridgette trying hard not to laugh, and she managed an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, get real," Courtney said to Harold, holding up one of his arms. "These skinny things aren't going to get us anywhere."

"I'll have you know my arms and other part of my body can be a lethal weapon," Harold replied, then he struck a few karate poses.

"Dream on," Duncan shot at Harold, "but we're digressing. Who'll do it?"

"I will," Geoff declared.

Bridgette gasped and grabbed his shoulder. "You can't possibly do it your condition! You're horribly disfigured," she cried out as she motioned at Geoff's perfectly fine looking legs.

"Then I'll do it," DJ said, punching his palm and taking a deep breath. "I know I can."

"DJ, you sure?" Geoff asked.

"Positive. Ain't no stupid fear of water holding me back!"

* * *

It didn't hold DJ back, and the Killer Bass arrived on Wawanakwa Island long before the Gophers.

Izzy and Ezekiel kissed in celebration, and Bridgette and Geoff hugged. Harold watched this, and felt his heart sink all the way down into the pit of his stomach, down his intestines, and possibly right out his butt.

"_Great, just great,_" he said as he walked away from the others, miserable. "_I encourage Bridgette to give Geoff another chance; he comes out as a brave, wounded hero to her, and I'm just the IDIOT who burned the paddles._

"_Hey, you have no one to blame but yourself._"

Both Harold's timid image and his aggressive image began throttling each other. The poor nerd would not sleep well that night, wrestling with his feelings and cursing himself for being so stupid.

* * *

**(Challenge 8, Paintball Deer Hunter)**

Leshawna crouched in the bushes, waiting for someone to come around. She was getting sick of waiting. If no deer came around in the next five minutes, she was going to leave this hiding spot.

Though she wouldn't mind stay there if it meant avoiding Heather. The queen bee had been in a tizzy-fit and a half over losing the canoeing challenge. When Katie had been voted off, the queen bee then vented her frustrations on her alliance members, Lindsay and Beth. Leshawna hated seeing the two sweet girls being treated so badly, but she felt telling to move away from Heather would be degrading; if they were going to stand up to Heather, they'd have to do themselves.

A twig snapped, alerting Leshawna. She looked over to the side and saw Duncan approaching. The punk stopped for a second, looked around, then took a spray can from his back pocket and began spraying his signature skull on a tree.

"_This is too perfect,_" Leshawna thought, an impish grin on her face. She aimed carefully from the bushes, very careful not to rustle them, aimed... and...

P-KOW!

Duncan let out a startled, pained scream as he leapt up, dropping his spray can. Reaching at his behind, his hand came back with orange paint on it.

"Ha ha ha," Leshawna shouted, standing up and pumping her fists in the air. "Gotcha right in that sweet can of yours, Baby Boy."

Duncan growled, narrowing his eyes at her. "That was uncalled for, Leshawna!"

"Oh I disagree, Baby Boy, that was so called for!"

The punk glared at her as he stashed his spray can back in his back pocket. He started running straight at her, hands outstretched. Leshawna panicked and fired at him wildly, hitting him in the chest, the hands, the goggles, but that didn't slow him down.

He tackled her and knocked to the ground. He wrestled with her, trying to pry the paintball gun from her.

"Give me that, sister!"

"No, it's mine, white boy!"

"Give it over!"

"No!"

"Mine!"

"Mine!"

They wrestled for some time, neither giving an inch. Then Duncan did something completely unexpected: he put his hand on the back of Leshawna's head, pulled her face to his, and gave her a big kiss.

Her eyes went wide as every muscle locked up, then relaxed blissfully. She didn't even feel him take the paintball gun away from her, until he separated the kiss from her.

"Mine," he repeated, grinning.

He was about to run away when she grabbed his shirt collar. "Oh no no no no," she shouted, "you do _not_ kiss me and then run off, Duncan!"

"Hey, give me a break, Leshawna, we're on opposite teams... mmmph!"

She pulled him close and kissed him. Now it was his turn for an electric surge to run through his body, paralyzing him for a second and then making his heart soar. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back.

"You're... good...," he panted between kisses.

"You're... the one... who's good, Baby... Boy," she muttered in-between the kisses, which were coming faster.

The two moaned, and then collapsed back down beneath the bushes. This was something they had both wanted for some time in deep secret. Duncan wrapped his strong arms around her, and she held his head in place as they made out.

They were so totally in love.

* * *

While Leshawna and Duncan made out in bliss, Heather and Beth argued in hate. Beth had been bossed around by the queen bee too much, and now she was going to take a stand.

"I'm tired of being your little sthlave," Beth hollered at Heather, stomping her foot.

"You little bitch," Heather shouted right back, startling the nearby Lindsay with her harsh word. "You are so dead, do you hear me?"

"The only one who'sth dead is you! Everyone is sthick and tired of being insthulted and degraded by you! The next time we losthe a challenge-"

"The next time we lose," Heather cut in, "you are going on that stupid Boat of Losers, and you can join your boyfriend wherever we sent him!"

Beth gasped. She was silent for a few hurt seconds, much to Heather's delight.

"You mean," Beth started to say, her voice shaking, "that you were the reason... Justin was voted off?"

"That's right," Heather sneered.

"You... _you douche bag_!!"

Beth picked up her paintball gun and shot Heather right in her bare stomach, pointblank range. The queen bee screamed in pain and fell back, Lindsay immediately by her side.

From the bushes, Geoff and Harold and Bridgette watched in horror.

"So um, what do we do?" Geoff asked over the queen bee's shrieking.

"Wait for her to get up, and start shooting Heather," Harold instructed, preparing his paintball gun.

Bridgette looked at Harold in amazement. "That's... rather aggressive," she commented.

"She deserves it. You heard her, she voted off Justin just to hurt Beth, and Beth is her _teammate_," Harold said, glaring at Heather from the tops of the bushes. "I despise cruel people."

"Well said, Harold. And so do I," Bridgette said, winking at Harold.

* * *

After the challenge was over, Heather and Lindsay and Beth walked back to the gathering place, the three of them soaked in blue paint.

"We couldn't help it that they kept standing in the way," Geoff told Chris, who was eyeing the paint stained hunters.

"Not to mention Heather had grabbed Lindsay's gun, and she and Beth were shooting each other," Harold remarked.

Chris shrugged. "Meh, I guess it's cool. It was really cool footage, but some of it was a lot of better."

He was glancing at others. Cody was in a full body-cast after being mauled by a bear; Leshawna and Duncan were trying to play innocent, but both looked flushed and were continuously glancing at each other; a gleeful Izzy came back with Gwen and Trent behind her, both covered head to toe in Killer Bass blue paint.

"I bagged me a buck and a doe," Izzy declared. "Ain't it great?"

Ezekiel scratched his head as he studied Leshawna. "How'd you get orange paint on you, eh?"

"Oh, that? Um," Leshawna stammered as she tried to think of an excuse other than, "_While Duncan and I were engaging in some heavy make-out time, the paint still wet on his body smeared against my clothes._"

"The paintball gun leaked," she declared. "Got paint all over me. You should take a look at it later, prairie boy, you know about guns and whatnot, don't you?"

"No, I'm moo'r of an archery person, eh."

* * *

**(Challenge 9, Cooking Competition)**

"How many times do I have to tell you, those aren't mine?!"

"Harold dude, who else could they belong to? DJ, Duncan, and I don't wear briefs."

"Not mine!"

Harold slammed his fist on the counter, furious. It had been like this all day. DJ, Geoff, and Duncan were making him miserable, what with stealing his all his pants, adding hot sauce to his underwear, and feeding him his own underwear in a sandwich.

"_I should have joined Cody on the Boat of Losers if I'm just reduced to being humiliated_," he thought bitterly.

Standing there in his pajamas, he never felt more humiliated and frustrated in his life. He was used to pranks, he was used to name calling and physical harassment, and he was used to feeling outcast among others.

But what he couldn't stand for was that Bridgette was there in the same room, giggling along with everyone else whenever he was at the end of a prank.

He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to give in and admit that the underwear scattered around the cabin for about a week now were his (but they weren't). He'd do anything to get them to stop embarrassing him in front of Bridgette, but he had his pride. There was a challenge, and his team, though most of them weren't showing it, needed his help.

Harold knew if he didn't pull his weight, he'd be voted off next ceremony; Courtney and Duncan were dying to get rid of him. He didn't know what he had done to upset the two so much, hadn't he won two challenges for the team?

As he tried to focus on his part of the cooking challenge, he saw Geoff stroll over to Bridgette and start chatting with her. That throbbing in his temple, a frustration-caused migraine, started to get worse.

"You look good in the kitchen," Geoff gushed to Bridgette. "Kind of like my friend's Greg's really hot mom."

Harold had to hold back the biggest laugh ever as Bridgette glared at Geoff and shouted, "_Excuse_ me?"

DJ quickly jumped in, grabbing Geoff and pulling him away, muttering something about needing help with the sink or something. Harold decided this would be a good time to talk to her, when she was good and angry at Geoff.

"_Or really stupid,_" part of his mind pointed out. "_She's mad, it's not a good idea to talk to a girl when they're mad._

"_She is also alone now,_" Harold reasoned with himself, "_and I haven't had a chance to talk to her alone in, like, forever; Geoff has always been around her, it's my time._"

When he approached her table, she was furiously chopping at the food with a large knife. Against all better judgment, he cleared his throat.

"Geoff," she growled, not looking up, "it would be best that you don't talk to me for now."

"Um okay, but what if I'm not Geoff?"

Bridgette looked up in surprise, then she smiled. It surprised him how no matter how much she did, it still warmed his heart.

"Oh hi, Harold," she said. "Sorry, just been having some troubles with Geoff."

"Meh, like I told you once before, guy has trouble expressing how he truly feels."

"He compared me to someone's _mom_," she said, frowning. "Someone's 'hot mom'."

Harold tried hard not to laugh, but a snorting laugh escaped. "Um, sorry."

"No, I guess it's okay," she replied, going back to her food. "It is kind of silly, now that I think about it."

"Gosh," Harold remarked, "you recover quickly."

"Yeah, I'm incapable of carrying a grudge."

"Oh. So, does that mean you're not still mad at me for burning the paddles during the canoeing challenge?"

"_You frickin' IDIOT,_" he screamed at himself in his mind. "_You just HAD to go and remind her of why she thinks you are an idiot!_"

The surfer girl shrugged. "Harold, I'm way over that. C'mon, you're my friend."

"Really?" he asked, utterly astonished.

"Of course, you goof. What, you think I talk to you or hang out with you because I don't like you?"

She playfully punched his shoulder, and he let out a silly little laugh. "Um, no, I guess you wouldn't," he said.

Inside, he was soaring.

"Right. You know, I confide in you more than anyone else," she admitted. "I don't feel comfortable talking with any one but you over some things."

"Really?" he asked again.

"Yeah, ain't that strange," she mused. "Actually, I don't think I've talked to anyone else here more than you."

Looking back, it seemed possibly true. After the talent show challenge, Bridgette and him had hung out a lot. She had talked about home, her friends, her mom, and what she wanted to do with the hundred thousand dollars if she won. He told her about his hobbies, and even the ones that everyone considered weird, like his skills with a nunchuck or electric keyboard, she seemed impressed; she especially liked hearing him talk about Possum Scouts.

It was why he was no longer nervous to talk with her. They were friends, he should have noticed that by now; he just wasn't used to having friends. Also, after the canoeing challenge, he felt so awful that he couldn't even look her in the eyes.

"Anyway, Harold, can I confide in you about something?" she asked him.

"Yes," he replied, watching her work. Geoff was right, she did look great working in the kitchen. Though Harold wasn't about to compare her to a hot mom; he didn't think it was possibly to call someone's mom 'hot'.

"Geoff's really been sending me some mixed signals," she said. "I mean, he's still playing it from afar like you said he was, but he's also getting up close."

" 'Playing from afar'?"

"Well, I found some poetry that was written for me," she said, her fine features dusted pink with humility.

Harold had to summon all his willpower to hold back a startled choking noise. "_She found it?!_" he thought, his mind racing. "_But I didn't leave any in her side of the cabin-_"

"Well actually, I don't know for sure if it was for me, but it was in my bed," she admitted. "It was... so sweet and romantic."

That pink on her face was getting brighter, and it was getting to be adorable on her. Harold would have been flattered if inside, he wasn't panicking.

"_I didn't put it in your bed_," he thought, trying to send a desperate, psychic message to her. "_I did write it for you, but I didn't give it to you in secret, because I knew if I did, you'd_-"

"I didn't even know Geoff liked haikus," she gushed, and she held her hands over her heart. "I... I never had a guy write me poetry before, and though I am a tomboy at heart... I still am really flattered."

Harold was in a mixture of horrified desperation and heart-fluttering joy. Bridgette was joyful over his poetry, she was practically swooning, but she thought it was from _Geoff_!

"No guy's ever written you poetry before?" was all he could say. "I find that hard to believe."

"Why?"

"Gosh, Bridgette, I'm really surprised you didn't have a boyfriend before the show."

She blushed and shook her head. "Harold, don't be silly."

"I'm not being silly, I speak the truth," he said, placing his hand on his heart. "I'm pretty sure five of the guys in this contest have crushes on you."

"Oh now you're just making stuff up," she said, rolling her eyes though still smiling, "you're crazy."

"Naw, I could list them," he said, loving how cute she looked when blushing. "Ezekiel had a little thing for you before he hooked up with Izzy, Geoff sure does, Cody who was on the Screaming Gophers liked you, Tyler told me he thought you were something else, and then there's..."

He stopped suddenly, not saying the "Me," of that sentence.

Bridgette looked up from her work, curious why he stopped. "Yes, who else?" she asked.

"Um..."

"_Tell her_," his mind shouted, slapping him in the back of the head. "_Tell her you wrote that poetry, not Geoff!_"

"Um, Bridgette?" he stammered, scratching the back of his head; he really wished he wasn't in his pajamas right now.

"What is it, Harold?" Bridgette asked, confused but having a hunch what he might have said.

"About those haikus... um..."

Bridgette continued to stare at him, waiting for him to answer. Her right hand started to shake from anticipation, and she had to hold it with her other hand.

"Those haikus... I-"

He was cut off when a bucket of water was dumped on his head, bucket included. Unable to see, soaking wet, and very cold now, Harold let out a startled cry.

"Oops, sorry," Duncan remarked, then he grabbed Harold's arm and pulled him away.

"Duncan, what are you doing?! You jerk!" Bridgette shouted.

"I need Harold's help with the croissants," the punk quickly explained.

"Idiot," Harold shouted as he was being led backwards, unable to see anything, and still soaking wet. "What are you doing? You and Courtney are working on those, not-"

Duncan pulled Harold's ear close to his mouth and the punk whispered, "Geoff's seeing Bridgette, not you! Keep your paws off her, you pajama-wearing, underwear-leaving straw pole, and get back to your job."

Yanking the bucket off Harold, Duncan stormed off, back to being bossed around by Courtney. The lanky nerd shook off the shock of what just happened, and looked back at Bridgette. The surfer girl was staring at him, looking very confused and shocked.

Harold sighed, and shrugged at her. He walked over to his station and started working on the pasta. He glanced at her and said quietly, "Maybe later, Bridgette?"

"Sure, when he's not around," she replied, pointing at Duncan.

Harold nodded, and went back to work. Though he was furious, frustrated, and still soaking wet, he couldn't help but be amused about one little thing.

" '_Pajama-wearing, underwear-leaving straw pole_'," he repeated in his mind. "_That guy's been spending way too much time with Leshawna on the sideline, his insults are starting to sound like hers_."

* * *

Izzy snapped her fingers as she watched Duncan pull Harold away from Bridgette. "Oh damn," she swore as she sulked over to Ezekiel. "I was really hoping he'd finally admit his feelings to her."

Ezekiel shrugged, a little distracted. He was in charge of getting the table presentation ready, and he wasn't happy about that one bit.

"I mean, I even put some of Harold's poetry in Bridgette's bed," Izzy said to her boyfriend. "How could you not love a guy who does that for you?"

He froze, as if someone had put a gun to his ribs. "Was...," he asked hesitantly, "that a hint?"

"Hmmm? Oh no no," Izzy replied, laughing. "Though still... hmmmm."

The prairie boy sighed as he went back to setting the table. "Well, maybe Bridgette thought Geoff wrote them to her, eh."

She froze like Ezekiel had, and then said a particularly bad word that made him flinch. "If she did, I really screwed things up," she grumbled. "Oh, how could I have been so stupid?"

"You're not stupid, Izzy," he told her. "You were only thinking of how to help Harold."

She sighed and shook her head. "No, I screwed up, Zeke. You have to tell me when I screw up, don't sugarcoat things. My mom tries to sugarcoat things with me, and I don't like it when she won't get mad at me over things she should."

Ezekiel stopped working and looked at her. "Wow, your mom's like that too?"

"Ayup. What, your mom won't give it to you straight?"

"Aye. Mom's not anywhere near strict and dad's too strict, eh."

"Neat, same here," she said, then she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. "So don't sugarcoat the truth, but don't be too blunt, 'kay?"

"Okay, eh. Though I think if you explain to Bridgette you put them there but not say who from, she might find 'oot herself."

"That's brilliant," she said, kissing his neck. He shivered in pleasure and tried to focus. "My boyfriend is such a genius!"

"Well, why's the genius out here setting the table instead of in the kitchen, eh?"

"Why you bitter, my Zeke?"

"I should be in that kitchen helping," he complained. "I'm the son of two home economics teachers, eh. I knoo' moo'r a'boot the kitchen than all of them put together, eh. I should be cooking!"

"Awww, I know, but there's a reason they want us out here."

"Why?"

"My silly hillbilly, they don't want Izzy in the kitchen; they're afraid I'll light something on fire, so they want you to watch over me."

Ezekiel turned around and smiled at her. "Oh Izzy... would you?"

"Not on purpose! Though it happened the last time I cooked something. Well, the last two times. Okay, three... I mean, four... to be fair, five... but not the sixth time, that doesn't count!"

* * *

The Killer Bass won the challenge with flying colors. It was mainly due to the fact that Lindsay's flambé cake became a charred lump when lit on fire, and Chris nearly choked to death on it; Harold's quick thinking and quicker karate chop to Chris's back forced the foul object out of the host's throat.

"Why do we keep losing, you bunch of freaks?" Heather shouted at her teammates.

"That's not gonna earn you friends, eh," Izzy giggled.

"And what is this?!" Heather pointed at a little tiki idol on the table. "I didn't say to use this!"

"I just thought it would be cute," Beth said, walking over and picking it up. "I found it on Boney Island, and I thought that-"

"You WHAT?!" several people, including Chris, shouted.

"Boney Island?! The island I said not to take anything from," the host shouted at her, "or that you'd be cursed forever?"

"I... I didn't know," she choked out. "I'm thorry, I'm tho thorry!"

She reached for the idol but was too afraid to touch it now. Chris watched her run off, and said, "Well campers, it's time for the Screaming Gophers to vote someone off. Again."

Leshawna had also watched Beth run off in tears, and she glared at Heather. "You're going down," she snarled at the queen bee as she scratched her arms, still ripe with her pineapple allergic reaction.

"I don't think so," Heather replied, glaring right back at Leshawna. "If you all know what's good for you, you'll vote off Beth; she cursed us with that doll, no wonder we keep losing."

"Am I the only one," Ezekiel asked aloud, "who thinks this talk of cursed idols is a load of hooey?"

* * *

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like hooey to the Screaming Gophers. Beth was voted off, and she walked towards the Dock of Shame with her head hanging.

"That was so stupid of you to take that doll from Boney Island," Heather taunted her.

That did it for poor Beth. She burst into tears, and leaned against the camp sign post for support. Heather cackled and walked off, earning glares from her teammates.

Leshawna wanted to wring Heather's neck, but her friends came first. She walked over to Beth and hugged her.

"I messthed up tho bad," Beth sobbed into Leshawna's shirt.

"It's okay, girlfriend," Leshawna whispered. "We'll get Heather for you."

"Th-thanks."

"Say hi to Justin for us too, won't you?"

Being reminded of Justin, Beth perked up a little. She nodded, and walked to the Dock of Shame.

* * *

The next morning, the sun was particularly harsh on Harold's eyes. He groaned and reached for his glasses on the shelf nearby his bunk. When his hand thrashed through a blank space, he lost his balance and rolled out of bed.

"Ow, dang it," he groaned as he got to his feet. "Where's the..."

He stopped when he heard girls giggling, and the sound of splashing. Where the heck was he? He reached into his spare pocket, in case his glasses were there.

But his pocket wasn't there. Nothing was but his bare skin. It very quickly dawned on him that he was naked, butt naked, and outside.

"Hello, Harold," came the chorus of every girl on Wawanakwa Island.

He squinted, and saw Izzy, Courtney, Leshawna, Heather, Gwen, Lindsay, and... oh God, _Bridgette_, in the water looking at him.

And then it dawned on him again, when the first time really should have been enough. _He was NAKED with all the GIRLS looking at HIM!!_

Letting out a high-pitched scream, he grabbed the pillow from his bed and covered his naughty bits. Now he was standing there naked and barely covered, almost blind, and all the girls laughing.

And it wasn't just the girls laughing either. He heard the laughter of Geoff, DJ, and Duncan from the water, and barely made out the canoe they were paddling in; being almost blind with his glasses, the whole experience was so much nightmaric.

"Well handsome," Geoff called out, "have you learned your lesson yet?"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Harold screamed, his voice high-pitched.

"Your underwear, naked dude," Duncan replied. "Don't leave it around the cabin anymore!"

"How many times do I have to tell you?!" he shouted. "It's not mine, damn it!!"

"You wanna keep that charade?" DJ asked. "C'mon dude, we can keep this up until our dying day. I'm sure the girls wouldn't get tired of the peep show."

"But... but," he stammered, near tears from embarrassment and helplessness now, "it's... not mine..."

"Du-uuuuuuuude," Duncan crooned. "No one believes you! Now come on, man up, come clean."

"Yes! Okay, okay," Harold wailed; he was beginning to shake from the terrible shame, his hand barely able to hold the pillow in front of him.

"What's that, dude?" Geoff called out.

"I'll never my stupid underwear around the cabin," Harold sobbed, tears coming from his eyes. "I swear, Possum's Scout honor!"

He did the Possum Scout salute with his free hand, barely able to hold his fingers in the right position.

"Sounds good enough to me," DJ said to the others.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Harold my man," Geoff said cheerfully as he tossed a bag of clothing onto the dock. Harold managed to grab it with his free hand, and, using the pillow to cover his butt, he covered his naughty bits with the bag of clothing.

"I... hate... you all... so much," he hissed under his breath as he stormed off, trying desperately to hold back the tears but unable to.

Ezekiel, who was walking towards the dock, passed by him. He froze, turned around to look at naked Harold; the mortified nerd tripped on a rock as he blindly headed back to the cabins.

Ezekiel looked back at the others, his jaw dropped and eyes wide. "What...," he stammered, looking at the girls and the guys in the canoe, gesturing to Harold before the lanky nerd stumbled into the Killer Bass cabin. "What... him... what?"

"It's his own fault," Duncan called out, cackling.

"Yeah, he wouldn't pick up his underwear around the cabin," said Geoff. "Surely you noticed the crusty underwear left everywhere on the floor."

Ezekiel stared for a few seconds, then he glared at the boys in the canoe. "Oh, you mean this underwear?" the prairie boy asked, holding up a pair of briefs. "The ones on the floor in the Killer Bass cabin, eh?"

"Yep, those are them," DJ acknowledged.

"The ones that have the name 'TYLER' written in them, eh?!"

Silence.

"Um, what?" was all Geoff could say.

"Yeah, I guess since Tyler never had a chance to get his stuff befur he left the island, he didn't have time to pick up his clothing befur he left, eh!"

Ezekiel shook with fury as he pointed angrily at his fellow Killer Bass male teammates.

"You knoo', I only came 'oot here to ask us how we could send them to him, eh! Oh, and," he reached into his pocket, "you knoo' a'boot this stupid tiki doll?"

He held it out for the others to see. "Yeah, Screaming Gophers? I sure hope you're happy with voting Beth off over a cursed tiki doll that was _made in Taiwan_!"

He pointed at the bottom of the tiki doll, and angrily chucked it in the water.

"Jackasses, the lot of you," he shouted, his face red with anger. He stomped off back to the Killer Bass cabin, heaving in fury. "God, this makes me glad I was home schooled."

More silence.

"Wow," Izzy said, curling one of her red locks around her finger. "He really isn't sugarcoating things. I am so totally in love with that man."

* * *

--

--

--

If you're wondering about the ending, I always wanted to make that episode more dramatic and tragic. And since we all know Wawanakwa Island and Boney Island were just sets in TDI, it would make sense that the 'cursed' island and 'cursed' items were a gimick by Chris. Just something that creep would do, hehe.

Don't think I'm making Duncan, Geoff, and DJ the villains, they just took a prank too far; they're not the villains of this show, Heather is.

And do you think it's dramatic, eh? It's going to get worse. But then it will get better, I promise it'll get better, because this will be a happy ending.


	3. Surfer and Nerd, Sister and Punk

**Disclaimer** - All rights belong to Teletoon, Cartoon Network, and the creators of TDI and TDA. No profit is being made in the making of the fanfiction. This alternate-universe episode of TDI contains stunts performed by written teens. Do not try any of this at home (except for the kissing, but with non-family members).

**The Kobold Necromancer's Warning** - This chapter not only contains more tragic Harold tormenting, but it's going to have a lot more mentioning of sex and things related to it (like pregnancy); however, it's not going over the T or PG-13 rating.

And this chapter is LONG. Also, sorry about the large lack of Beth/Justin.

You have been warned.

* * *

**Chapter 3** - Bethtin, Ezzy, Ledunca, and Brigold

* * *

**(Challenge 10, Blind Trust)**

Harold refused to talk to anyone after the humiliation he had suffered. He wouldn't even look at them, especially not Duncan and Geoff. For breakfast and dinner the day he was mortified and next couple days, Harold would not even eat; when Chef Hatchet dropped whatever disgusting food he served on his tray, he would immediately throw it in the trash and walk out of the cafeteria.

Most wondered how he was feeling since they hadn't seen him eat for three days. The truth was that he was eating, thanks to two people he was still talking to in secret as well.

Izzy and Ezekiel were raiding the fabulous food that Chris selfishly kept for himself (Izzy was raiding, she dragged a very nervous Ezekiel along every time). Every night they would do this, the redhead skillfully avoiding Chef's increasing traps, and she, Ezekiel, and Harold would eat at the boat house.

"I really want to knoo' how Chris Maclean sleeps at night," Ezekiel commented as he munched on a hamburger. "How can he enjoy watching us be so uncomfortable and in pain, eh?"

"I'm guessing the douche bag was treated badly as a teenager, so now he's getting his revenge," Izzy remarked. "Typical stupid moron idiot, takes his pain and unleashes it on the innocent."

"Think that explains Duncan too?" Harold asked as he ate some turkey.

"No, I think he's just a douche bag," Izzy said, laughing. "And he's getting close to second base with Leshawna on the side."

Harold almost choked on his food. "Really? But those two are always arguing with each other when they are among others! You mean that's an act?"

"No, that's love," she said. "Though she's currently really pissed about that prank he helped Geoff pull on you, Harold. Anyway, arguing is their weird way of flirting, via argument."

"Oh, it's like code-speak, eh?" Ezekiel asked.

"No no no, they love to argue with each other. Some couples are like that, like my uncle Joe Don and my aunt Kim. They fight all the time, and times they throw things; I almost was brained by a vase once."

"That's rather sad," Ezekiel remarked. "I mean, I knoo' arguments are inevitable, but I cannot imagine being married to someone who loves getting me mad."

"Me neither," both Izzy and Harold said.

They were quiet for a couple minutes as they enjoyed the good food. Then Izzy looked at Harold and asked, "So when are you finally going to tell Bridgette you like her more than just as friends?"

Harold froze, staring at Izzy. The redhead stared back with 'you heard me' eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked, playing innocent.

"We knoo' you like her, eh," Ezekiel explained. "I think everyone knoo's, you spend a lot of time with her; well, you used to befur the, um, incident."

"I think everyone knows, even Bridgette knows," Izzy said. "She's waiting for you to say it.

"Really?"

"We girls are like that. We want the guy to come forth and say they do, to be confident. Like my Zeke was when he smooched me."

Ezekiel flushed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm glad that worked, eh."

"But Harold, you've talked to her long enough," Izzy continued. "It's time you go forth and ask her out. If you don't, Geoff will; most people think he and Bridgette are going out now, and your silent treatment to everyone hasn't helped."

Harold let out a long sigh, looking away in doubt.

"Look, eh, neither of us blame you for being angry a'boot that," Ezekiel said. "But Bridgette wasn't responsible fur that, and the guys will not apologize. You have to go to her, what's the worse that could happen, eh?"

"That all she'll think of is me standing naked on the pier and crying while the guys taunt me?" Harold asked bitterly.

Izzy and Ezekiel exchanged a nervous look; they hadn't actually thought of that. The redheaded girl was the first to reply to this. "Look, Harold, Bridgette is not going to hold that against you. She's the sweetest, kindest, and most stable girl Izzy knows. You know, when she's not puking or burning down the tent.

"So tomorrow, get off your hinder and go tell her how you truly feel."

* * *

Tomorrow morning was not possible, as Chris woke everyone up early for the challenge. He explained that he had noticed there had been a lot of tension within the teams of late; he was mainly looking at Gwen and Harold as he spoke.

"So what we're going to do is see if you all can trust your teammates as far as you can throw them, or hold them up," the host said, clapping and rubbing his hands.

The first of five challenges was a rock climbing challenge. Gwen and DJ were to go as Heather and Duncan supported them from the ground. DJ asked Geoff to watch over Bunny for him.

The challenge was a victory for the Screaming Gophers but not for Gwen; Heather, using a second rope craftily set before Gwen had started climbing, tore off the goth girl's skirt and left her climbing the rest of the way with her underwear exposed to the world.

Bridgette gasped in horror, Harold's eye twitched as he modestly looked away (most of the other boys did not). Both of them seriously considered wringing Heather's neck, which was generous compared to what Gwen wanted to do to her.

The next challenge involved preparing poisonous blow fish as a meal for a teammate, Ezekiel and Izzy on the KB, Trent and Lindsay on the SG.

Ezekiel cooked the food and proved to be every bit a cook as he had claimed to be; Izzy started wolfing down the entire plate when she was only supposed to take a mouthful, and Chris Maclean pulled her away in fear she would accidentally kill herself (which she wouldn't have). Trent ended up with blowfish poisoning, puking and dangerously ill due to Lindsay's terrible performance.

Next was reverse William Tell, which two blindfolded people would shoot apples with a slingshot at an arrow taped to the top of one of their teammates' head.

"The teams will be Heather shooting at Gwen, and Harold shooting at Courtney," Chris said, chuckling happily at how unhappy this made Gwen and Courtney look.

"Are you _trying_ to get her to kill me?" the goth girl shouted.

"I'm not letting that dweeb shoot apples at me, he has no sense of aim," Courtney hollered.

Harold cleared his throat and raised his hand. "Chris," he said, speaking among the campers for the first time since his humiliation, "I cannot be the shooter. I'm violently allergic to apples."

Chris raised a dubious eyebrow and looked over at Chef Hatchet. The large cook was shuffling through some papers, then he looked up and nodded at the host.

"Okay then Harold, sit out this one," Chris said, shrugging. "Geoff?"

But Geoff had gone to 'look' for DJ's Bunny, which he had 'lost' (Geoff, when setting Bunny down for a brief moment, saw the poor rabbit be eaten by a snake, then the snake eaten by an eagle, then the eagle eaten by a shark).

"Izzy, you be the pelter then," Chris said.

The challenge was brutal. Gwen and Courtney both took serious blows, crying out in pain as they were bruised by the shot apples. The difference was that while Izzy was trying to hit the arrow and following Courtney's shouted directions, which caused her to miss Courtney more than hit her, Heather was continuously hitting Gwen.

When Gwen had doubled over fell to her knees from taking a third apple right to her stomach, Heather hit the arrow with an apple. Izzy cursed aloud and threw the slingshot away.

"I hate her so much," Gwen said through her pain as Leshawna and Lindsay helped her up.

* * *

The fourth challenge looked like a couple swings over a small pool, two platforms on both sides. Chris explained to the campers that one camper, blindfolded, would be jumping off the platform, and hope their teammate swinging on the monkey bars.

"Oh, and I should mention that the pool is full of electric jellyfish," the host said.

A crackle of electricity from the pool alerted the campers, and they all winced. None of them (well, except Izzy) wanted to fall in that.

"Harold, you'll be the catcher this time," Chris said, patting the nerd on the shoulder. "But after what happened to you a few days ago, I don't know if I'd trust you to catch any of your teammates."

"I'll do it then," Izzy declared happily. "That pool looks fun!"

"No no, I think we're going to have Bridgette be the jumper," Chris said. "Let's see if Harold's feeling generous enough to catch the girlfriend of the guy who left him naked for the entire viewing world, har har har!"

"_Girlfriend?_" Harold thought, downtrodden.

* * *

"Okay Bridgette," Harold called out to his blindfolded friend as he swung over the pool. "Jump... NOW!"

But the blinded surfer girl was far too terrified, as she could hear the electricity crackling in the pool below. She clung to one of the poles, shaking in fear.

Harold groaned, hoping Chris wouldn't count that. "Bridgette, c'mon, you can trust me!"

"I wouldn't," Heather, the blindfolded jumper on the other side, shouted. "I think he'd be more than glad to let you get electrocuted after what your team put him through."

"Shut up, Heather! Gosh," Harold shouted. He looked back to his friend. "Bridgette, I know it wasn't your doing! Please, you've got to trust me here!"

"O... okay...," Bridgette whimpered, letting go of the pole. "Please don't drop me, Harold."

"You know I won't!"

"Okay Harold," she repeated, "I trust you!"

Geoff was clutching his hands in front of his mouth, his knuckles white. Ezekiel bit his lower lip. Izzy bobbled on her feet, wondering what was so terrible about such a fun-looking plunge.

"All right then Bridgette," Harold called out, timing his swings. "Ready... set... JUMP!"

She did this time, reaching out for him. He grabbed her wrists, and she clenched his in mortal fear.

"Victory for the Bass," Chris declared over the cheers of the Bass teammates. "Well done, Harold!"

Chef Hatchet extended a think plank over the water, which Bridgette and Harold dropped down on. The surfer girl raced to the shore, yanked off her blindfold, and let out a happy sigh.

"Oh Harold," she gushed when he was on the shore too. She grabbed him and pulled him in for the most appreciative hug he'd ever received. "Oh bless you so much, thank you, thank you!"

"I told you I wouldn't let you down," he replied.

Then there was a splash and terrible screaming. Harold and Bridgette clung to each other as they stared at Heather, thrashing and jerking around in the electric pool. Everyone stared in abject horror, except for Gwen, who was grinning happily.

* * *

"Awesome catch, Harold," Geoff said, thumping him on the back.

"Thanks. Hey, where's DJ?"

"Um, he's...," Geoff nervously tapped his fingers together, "mourning over the fact that Bunny left him."

" 'Mourning'?" Ezekiel repeated.

"Okay, but where's Duncan?" Harold asked.

"You know, I don't know," the party animal admitted. "I haven't seen him since the jellyfish challenge."

Meanwhile, Leshawna was leading a twitching Heather towards the medical tent. The queen bee couldn't see too well, since a jellyfish was attached to her head and partially covering her eyes.

"Karma's a real bitch, ain't it, white girl?" Leshawna remarked, grinning at Heather. "Might want to consider laying off Gwen, ya hear?"

"Shut up, ghetto girl, I don't believe in any karma shi-"

She suffered another zap from the jellyfish. Leshawna rolled her eyes as she watched the queen bee collapse on one of the cots, opposite of the drooling and deathly sick Trent.

The loud sister was about to leave when she saw someone pass by the tent. It was Duncan, walking backwards and holding a carrot down near the ground. A cute rabbit was following close, trying to get the orange treat.

"What on earth?" Leshawna said to herself, puzzled. Was Duncan into cute little critters now?

* * *

At the final challenge, all the able-bodied contestants were gathered up at the bottom of the giant hill on Wawanakwa, cheering on their bobsled team. It was Geoff and DJ for the Killer Bass, Lindsay and Gwen for the Screaming Gophers.

It had been obvious DJ's heart was not in the contest anymore before the race started, and his last-minute turns were a bad sign to the Killer Bass. They cringed, hoping the two wouldn't smash into a tree.

Duncan came running up and shouted, "DJ! I found Bunny! He came back!"

When the gentle giant peeped from under his blindfold, he was overjoyed and back into the contest. After the race was over and the Killer Bass came in first, they cheered in jubilation.

Leshawna, despite being on the losing team, was smirking and elbowing Duncan. "I saw what you did there, Baby Boy."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You got DJ a new rabbit after his old one left," she said, a wide grin on his face. "You couldn't let him think his sweet, fluffy friend abandoned him."

"Don't spread it around," he growled. "I don't want people to think I'm a nice guy, 'cuz I'm not."

"I disagree, my big cream puff," she said, then whispered, "If you are a nice guy, meet me behind the communal washrooms at midnight tonight. Nice guys get kissing privileges."

She strutted away, leaving Duncan red-faced. "_Holy hell_," he thought, "_do nice guys really get rewarded like that?_"

* * *

**(Challenge 11, Master Chief's Army Camp)**

Chris had declared the Killer Bass disqualified that day, because DJ had peeked from under the blindfold. This action also got the gentle giant voted off, though Harold had come a close second.

It seemed that after that exhausting day was over, the pranks on Harold came back in full-force. Geoff and Duncan couldn't help themselves.

"Who glued the pages of my favorite graphic novel together?" Harold shouted in indignant rage.

"Who filled my pillow with pudding?!"

"How did toothpaste get in my shoes?"

"Who's made smores out of my underwear?" When Geoff and Duncan burst out laughing after every prank, Harold could only gnash his teeth and to fix the prank's damage.

Courtney was no help. "Harold, quit whining and get to work on the dishes," she replied after the toothpaste in shoes prank. "It's your turn, and you've been procrastinating!"

When he had thrown away chocolate-covered underwear, the CIT shrieked at what she thought was heavily stained briefs. "You're the most revolting boy I know, Harold," she shot at him before storming off.

"No no no, that's not...," Harold had started, then sighed as he realized it was helpless. He glanced over at Geoff and Duncan, called them, "Idiots," and then slammed the door to boys' side shut.

"He makes it too easy," Duncan said, chuckling.

Ezekiel glared at them. "You both are a couple jerks, eh. Why doo'nt you prank the Screaming Gophers if you must?"

"Can't, dude, Chris warned us that doing anything to the opponent campers could give us a penalty in the next challenge," Geoff informed them.

"And in the meantime, you're just going to torment Harold?"

"Lighten up, it's harmless," Duncan scoffed.

* * *

Chef Hatchet had summoned them all to the Dock of Shame a few minutes later. Booming loud, bombastic, and crass, the big man was insulting them and telling them how he planned to 'turn them into real human beings, into soldiers.'

Using a riding crop, he smacked Lindsay, Duncan, and Izzy to get them to stand up straight. When he approached Harold, Master Chief (as he ordered them to call him) almost beat Harold senseless.

"Stand straight," he shouted, smacking him more with the riding crop.

"I am standing straight, gosh," Harold wailed throughout the beating.

"You are the most pathetic soldier I've ever seen," Master Chief snarled, getting up in his face. "I remember when you were but a pup, standing naked on this dock. Small dingaling in the breeze... I think I'll call you Private Winkie, it suits you."

Harold blanched and clenched his fists, to which Master Chief smacked his hand and face. Duncan, Geoff, and Heather were not doing a good job at hiding their laughter, but they managed to suppress it before Master Chief came over to them.

"Don't worry, Harold," Izzy whispered to him. "I'll frag him for you."

* * *

The first challenge was to hold up a canoe for an indefinite period of time. With seven members, the Killer Bass had the advantage. It allowed Geoff to hook Harold's underwear with a fishing rod, and give him a very quick, painful wedgie.

"Ow! Idiots," the lanky nerd shouted as he grabbed his butt.

"Something wrong, Private Winkie?" Master Chief barked, stomping over.

"No, nothing, sir!" Harold grabbed hold of the boat over him as he spoke. Master Chief smacked him in the face with his riding crop before walking off.

"Harold, get your act together," Courtney hissed at him over her shoulder. "This should be no challenge, don't you dare blow it for us!"

It didn't take long for the Screaming Gophers to cave in, as Lindsay collapsed and refused to get up (by her will, not because of anything serious).

The next part of the challenge was after they were served 'dinner,' which was last week's garbage still in the can.

"I'm not eating that, it's not even food anymore," Courtney shouted.

"In wartime, you take what you get," Master Chief growled.

"The raccoons won't even touch it, eh," Ezekiel commented. "And that's not natural."

"You wimps saying my trash is not good enough?" the large cook on a power trip barked. Grabbing Harold in a headlock, he opened a trash can and forced a rotten banana peel into the nerd's mouth. "There you go! Private Winkie enjoys it!"

"He sure looks like he does, Master Chief sir," Duncan remarked, grinning at Harold's twisted expression; the punk couldn't help it if the nerd looked so funny when he grimaced.

"Want another one, Private Winkie?" Master Chief asked, also grinning sadistically. He pulled out an apple core, quite brown and growing some fur. Harold whimpered. "That a yes? Okay then!"

"No, don't! Let go of him!"

Bridgette ran over and pulled Harold away from Master Chief, glaring at the large cook. "He's allergic to apples, Chef," the surfer girl shouted at the big man.

"That ain't an apple anymore," Duncan said, chuckling.

"I consider this mutiny, soldier," Master Chief bellowed, the force of his voice whipping Bridgette's ponytail and hood back. "So you're out, blondie!

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get myself something to eat before the next part of the challenge."

As he left the cafeteria, Bridgette helped the nauseated Harold sit down. Duncan volunteered to get him something to drink, and walked into the kitchen.

"Way to go, Harold," Courtney snapped at him, glaring at him some more. "If you had just spoken up and stood up for yourself, Bridgette would still be in this contest."

"Don't blame him," Bridgette said, trying to keep her patience with her friend.

"Why? He never stands up for himself," the CIT continued. "It's pathetic how he needs you to tell Chef that he has a dangerous allergy to apples."

"He had a rotten banana peel in his mouth!"

"Look, Bridgette, never mind okay?" Courtney remarked as she rolled her eyes. "I'm sure if Private Winkie cares enough, he won't let us lose this cont-"

She stopped when Harold let out a loud spit-take, tannish-brown liquid spewing from his mouth. As he sat there hacking and coughing, Duncan and Geoff stood over him, howling in laughter.

"Sorry, dude," Duncan crooned, "that wasn't juice. I must have accidentally got the cooking grease! Awesome spit-take!"

* * *

During the next challenge, a mud-coated obstacle course, Harold felt his body convulse when he landed face-first in the mud. Puking mud and hard, Ezekiel flagged down Master Chief.

"Too... much... mud," Harold managed to strain out.

"Get to the infirmary then, Private Winkie, your tour of duty is over," the large cook ordered Harold. As the lanky nerd walked off, Master Chief gave him one smack with his riding crop, right on the butt.

As the challenge continued, Duncan managed to royally piss off Chef Hatchet, and was sentenced to solitary confinement in the boat house. That was the end of the second challenge, with Ezekiel and Leshawna being eliminated.

"What is it with the boys on this team?" Courtney grumbled as the teenagers rested in the cafeteria. "Sexist Ezekiel, Geoff won't take anything seriously, Duncan won't either and I think he's seeing Leshawna on the side, and don't get me started on Harold-"

"Do you ever shut up?" Izzy grumbled, glaring at the CIT.

Leshawna grabbed a bowl of porridge and started to leave the cafeteria. Heather noticed this, and angrily called out, "Where do you think you're going, Leshawna?"

"None of your business."

"If you're going to the boat house, I think some of us 'soldiers' would consider that mutiny!"

"No, we wouldn't," Gwen snapped. "Go on, Leshawna." Trent and Lindsay smiled at her as well, except the blond had to play innocent when Heather glared at her.

Leshawna headed over to the boat house, and opened the door. Duncan was there, looking depressed until he saw it was her.

"Hey babe," he said, a sly grin on his side. He held his hands out to embrace her, but she pushed the bowl of porridge into his hands.

"Baby Boy, you better listen to what I have to tell you," she said, crossing her arms. "I'm not going to stand this mean boy act you have going on."

"What 'act'? I am who I am, babe."

"No, I know you're not. I've seen your sweet side, I know it's there. And I'll tell you right now, I'm not going to be dating a boy who picks on others."

"C'mon," Duncan whined as he put the bowl down, "they're just harmless pranks."

"They're not harmless, white boy. Now don't make me repeat myself," she said, shaking her finger at him. "You shape up, or ship out, ya hear?"

"Look babe, I'm me, I can't change that."

"You're sixteen, Duncan, so check yourself before you wreck yourself. It's bad enough you got a record, but I won't have my beau be a bully. Got it?"

Duncan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay fine."

"Good," she said before turning on her heel and started to strut out.

"What, no kiss?"

"Oh, I forgot to add. No physical contact until I'm convinced you've changed."

She closed the door before her. Duncan stared with wide, horrified eyes, then groaned. "Holy crap," he cursed, "that woman will be the ruination of me."

* * *

The final challenge didn't last long, because none of the campers could hang upside down for very long. Geoff fell on his head, Courtney came soon after. Heather refused to do it and jumped down herself, only for a dizzy Trent to land right on her.

Izzy and Gwen stared at each other, both unsure of how long the other could last. "I can hang here all day," the goth girl cried out.

"I long hanging around," Izzy babbled. "I do it all the time at home. It's a great way to pass... the time..."

She was beginning to slur her words. "Because... when I black out... I wake up hours later... feeling refreshed... apart from a major throbbing... on my head."

Izzy fell off, but she didn't land on her head like she did at home; she landed in Ezekiel's arms.

"The Screaming Gophers, thanks to Gwen, have won," Chris Maclean announced.

As the five members of the team cheered, holding the goth girl up in the air in victory, the Killer Bass exchanged glances.

"That's right, Bass," the host continued. "See you at the bonfire tonight. Pick the one who goes home!"

Duncan, who was still brooding over what Leshawna said to him last night, glared at Harold. As did Courtney, who looked even angrier.

"You are so going home, dweeb," she shouted in his face.

"Too right," Duncan grumbled.

The other campers walked off, planning on what do tonight. Ezekiel carried Izzy to the medical tent just in case. Geoff walked with Duncan, trying to figure out what was irking his friend so much. Bridgette walked with Courtney, trying to reason with her friend.

The surfer girl looked behind her at Harold for a brief moment. He was standing there in the same place where Courtney had told him off, not moving.

Before she looked away, she saw him clench his hands and began to shake. He was beginning to tear up as he stormed off, staring down at the ground.

* * *

About a half-hour before the bonfire ceremony was to take place, Harold was heading over to the voting box. Lifting if off the pole it was hooked on, he headed towards the outhouse.

"_I wish it hadn't come to this_," he thought, "_but I'm going to do this, and I'm not going to feel guilty about it either._"

Just before he could enter the confessional can, someone called to him. It was Bridgette.

"Harold," she cried. "Harold! What... what's that you got there?"

He was frozen, deer caught in the headlights guilt. She approached him, and noticed the voting box.

"What are you doing with the voting box?" she asked, her voice very light.

He didn't answer, he couldn't. Bridgette reached for the box, and he jerked it away.

"Harold," she whispered, "please give that to me."

"No," he replied, jerking it further away. This was a mistake, and he slammed his hand against the outhouse with the box. Letting out a cry, he dropped it on the ground.

As the lanky nerd winced and doubled over, some papers spilled out of his shirt. Bridgette knelt down and grabbed some of them.

" 'Duncan'?" she read them. "Harold... were you going to-"

"Yes," he admitted, hissing air as he clutched his sore hand.

"You... you were going to cheat?"

"I hate him," Harold shouted, startling her. "I hate him so much! He deserves to lose!"

Bridgette stared at him, her mouth agape with astonishment. "Harold...," she repeated.

"He's been bullying me ever since we got on this island," he continued to say, his face contorted with anger. "He's been pranking me and threatening me, he stripped me naked in front of _everyone_...

"He has been making my life hell, and now that _idiot_ going to get the last laugh too! They're going to vote me off tonight! Izzy and Ezekiel told me they voted for Courtney because they were tired of being bossed around by her, and that was after I voted for Duncan, so it's going to be me."

"But... how can you know for sure?"

"Bridgette, they hate me! And I'm not going to let them do to this me! I'm not going to let them get with bullying me and pranking me, and... and... that horrible ordeal they put through over something that wasn't my fault!"

He picked the box back up. "I'm not going to let them get away with this! I'm not... I'm not-"

"Harold!"

Bridgette grabbed his arms, staring pleadingly into his eyes. "Don't do this! You can't cheat, you can't!"

"What am I supposed to do, Bridgette? Let them vote me off after everything they did to me?"

"But you can't go through with this," her grip tightened as her voice cracked, "Harold... I can't let you!"

Harold sighed, defeated. "I know... you're too honest, Bridgette. You wouldn't let someone cheat in this contest."

"No, Harold, I can't let you do this. You can't let you anger get the better of you. You're too good of a person to do something wrong like this!"

They were quiet for a few seconds, only the sound of their emotionally ragged breathing. The two stared into each other's eyes, trying to decipher the other.

"I know it's unfair, it really, really is," she said. "I know it is, I can't stand Duncan either. But you're a good person, you're one of the most honest and kindest people I've met. You helped me feel better when I was at my worst, you always listened to me and tried your hardest in challenges, and you never deserved any of the abuse that was directed at you.

"So please, don't do this. It's not something the Harold I know would do."

He looked into her eyes. Those beautiful, pale green eyes were now moist with tears, she was close to crying. With a long, defeated sigh, he stood up and started to walk back to where the voting box was supposed to go. Hanging it back up, he leaned against the pole.

"It's almost time for the ceremony," he said quietly after a quick glance at his watch. "I guess this is it."

She nodded and sniffed, wiping at her eyes.

"I don't know what came over me," he continued. "No... that's a lie, I did. I'm just sick of it, Bridgette. I'm sick of being treated like crap, I'm sick of people pranking me and laughing. But what I'm really sick of most is how I never have the courage to stand up for myself."

He hammered the post. "I'm such an idiot. Maybe I do deserve to be voted off, I never-"

"No, you didn't," Bridgette shouted. She walked over and turned him towards her. "You didn't deserve any of that crap! You never did!

"I hate those people who treat you badly back where you live! I can't stand Duncan and Geoff for being so mean to you when you never did anything to them! I even hate myself, I wish I hadn't been there giggling with them!"

She seized him and hugged him tight. "Oh Harold... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

Harold hugged her back, tears forming in his eyes as well. "Bridgette..." He pulled her away, holding her shoulders. "If I had been a real man worthy of your feelings, I would have confessed to this a long time ago.

"I... I've had really strong feelings for you ever since this contest began. From the day you accidentally knocked me off the dock and then helped me back up. I never had the courage to tell you, not even when we became friends.

"I even wrote those haikus that you found in your bed. I still don't know how they got there, I didn't have the nerve to leave you secret love poems. I wrote them because I wanted to try to find the right words for someone like you."

He managed to smile as she listened; her heart was pounding just as hard as his was. "You're the most wonderful girl I've ever met. Everything about you captivated me, your incredible kindness, your sweet personality, and your own mad skills."

She smiled back, taking deep breaths. "I... I always thought you liked me... I just didn't know it was this much..."

"Bridgette... I really wish I had the courage to do this earlier..."

He leaned down, only slightly because he wasn't that much taller than her, and kissed her. She closed her eyes and felt him cup her face lovingly. When the kiss ended, he stared into her eyes.

"When I am more of a man, who can stand up to the idiots who pester me, I'll see you again.

"Until then, my dear Bridgette."

He took her hand in his, gave it a reaffirming squeeze, then walked off. She watched him go, watched him walk off without looking back. Tears spilled from her eyes as she leaned against the post.

Bridgette had no idea how long she was there; she even missed the intern who took the votes out of the box to take them to Chris. Her mind was swimming, but eventually something in the back of her mind reminded her there was still the marshmallow ceremony to go to. She bolted forward, tripping over a rock in the process of her hurrying to the bonfire.

When she got there, the campers were standing there with marshmallows in their hands; Geoff had two. He smiled when he saw Bridgette, then he was concerned when he saw her tearstained face.

"Bridgette, what's wrong?" he asked her.

"Harold! Where's Harold?" she demanded to know, looking around; he was not among those with marshmallows.

Geoff pointed at the Dock of Shame, where the Boat of Losers was departing. Harold was on it, sitting down and looking up at the sky.

"Harold! Wait, Harold," she cried out, dashing towards the dock.

"Gee, if you wanted to say good-bye, you could have been here for the ceremony," Chris muttered.

Bridgette ran down the Dock of Losers, calling out to him. He heard her, and waved back. The boat was fast, and Harold was gone before she could shout anything profound to him. Collapsing at the end of the dock on her knees, she sobbed bitterly.

"Why?" she asked the stars above, her tears reflecting the moonlight. "Why couldn't he have stayed? I may never see him again..."

She covered her face as she tried to stop from crying, but couldn't. Someone put their hands on her shoulders, and she looked up to see Izzy, with a look that was uncharacteristic of the redhead: sympathy.

"Bridgette," the redhead said softly as she helped her up, "you'll see him again. Don't you worry."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Because Izzy is sure your hearts will find each other again. Have faith, as Harold would never abandon the chance to see you again, and I know you wouldn't either.

"Plus, I overheard Chef Hatchet say all the losers are staying a swank resort up until after the contest is over. So there's that too."

* * *

After the campers went to bed, Bridgette found herself alone in the girls' side of the Bass cabin. Izzy and Courtney had to go brush their teeth; actually, Izzy had to, and she insisted Courtney did too, so the CIT was practically dragged out of the cabin by the redhead.

Why Izzy had left Bridgette alone in the cabin was because she had left more of Harold's haikus on Bridgette's pillow. The blond surfer picked them up and started to read them.

--

_My fair haired surfer_

_As elegant as dolphins_

_You are my mermaid_

--

_Oh Bridgette, you are_

_my environmentalist_

_as long as Earth spins_

--

_One million dollars_

_I'd trade it for, with you, one_

_underwater kiss_

--

Bridgette smiled as she read them. "_It's strange how something that sounds so cheesy,_" she thought as she held them to her heart, "_can be so wonderful at the same time._"

She was so totally in love.

* * *

**(Challenge 12, eXtreme Sports)**

The next challenge seemed to go awfully fast for some of the campers, Bridgette and Ezekiel especially. The surfer girl spent the entire day talking to Gwen about what had happened between her and Harold. The prairie boy had a terrible feeling something really bad was going to happen.

"No, I knoo' this feeling," he said to Izzy, who tried to comfort him. "This is the same feeling I got the day my favorite author died."

"Well he's not going to rise from the grave and come after you, my Zeke," she had said to him. "Have a little faith."

He would have continued, but she pulled him close to her and started to kiss him. She put more passion into than before, long and really steamy kisses that made Ezekiel's knees go weak; Izzy was practically holding him up.

"Whoa," he whimpered in-between their make-out session. "Izzy... you're... incredible."

"Izzy's taken in by the romance that Bridgette and Harold were in," she said, breathy. "I don't want to lose you, my Zeke, I've grown really fond of you."

"Me too, eh. In fact, I think-"

She went back to kissing him, and what he was going to say was lost then.

Duncan saw and heard all this, and sulkingly walked away from the kissing couple. He sighed, and looked over at Leshawna, who was busy talking to Lindsay.

"_Damn it, this is killing me more than I thought it could,_" he thought. "_It's worse than my cell in juvie! Can't she tell that this is _torturing_ me?!_"

Then there were the challenges. Bridgette succeeded in skydiving onto an old couch, while Trent plummeted five thousand feet into the sand; Geoff was bucked off half-naked from a raging moose (he was trying to show off a butt tattoo to Bridgette and Gwen, who had asked at the wrong moment), while Leshawna rode her moose until it collapsed in exhaustion; Ezekiel managed to grab three flags when mud-skiing, and Lindsay scooped up all five as Duncan was launched into a tree in a terrible crash.

What really caught Izzy's attention was how Heather's top had been ripped off during the last stretch, exposing her breasts to Ezekiel. Yet after the contest, Ezekiel just looked disappointed as he leaned against a tree and sighed.

"Were her boobs that bad?" she asked her boyfriend as she approached him.

"Huh? Oh I doo'nt care a'boot that right now," he said, shaking his head. "I'm just upset I didn't win the contest, and that horrible feeling is just getting woo'rse, eh."

Izzy cackled in joy and hugged him. She whispered in his ear, "You do like boobs though, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"After the marshmallow ceremony, I might let you see mine."

She skipped off to talk to Bridgette and Gwen, while she left Ezekiel stand there wide-eyed. Duncan, who was climbing down from the tree they were under, plopped down next to Ezekiel and elbowed him.

"So, how _were_ Heather's boobs?" he asked him quietly.

Ezekiel let out a low wolf-whistle, and the two guys high-fived.

* * *

During the marshmallow ceremony, it came down to Izzy and Courtney. Chris stared in-between them and grinned sinisterly.

"Who's it gonna be?" he asked.

Ezekiel was shaking hard, crushing his marshmallow in his hand. Bridgette was holding his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Duncan's eyes were flashing between the redhead crazy girl, the brunette CIT, and the overly-styled-haired host.

All worries and anticipation were suddenly cut off when whirling helicopter blades approached. They came from an RCMP copter, that began to shine a spotlight on the campers.

"IZZY, WE KNOW YOU'RE DOWN THERE," a man from the helicopter shouted over a loudspeaker, "YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! COME QUIETLY!"

"Goddamn RCMP," Izzy cursed.

"You're _wanted_?!" Courtney shouted.

"Yeah, but I'm innocent, they just won't believe me. Long story. Well, see you all later!"

She stood up and the spotlight focused on her. Izzy threw her fists into the air, and shrieked her reply, one that could be heard all the way back to the campgrounds by the Screaming Gophers.

"YOU'LL NEVER GET ALI-IIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!"

She ran off, cackling and whooping. The helicopter followed her, as did Ezekiel.

"Wait, Izzy," he called out frantically. "Izzy!!"

"I'll be back, my Zeke," she shouted back to him. "Just let me deal with these pigs first!"

"Izzy," he called out once more, then cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "I love you!"

"I love you too!"

And they were gone, Izzy and the pursuing helicopter, too far away for human eyes and ears to see or hear them. Ezekiel slumped and let out a heavyhearted sigh.

"That does wrap that up," Chris commented. "That's it for tonight, campers."

The Killer Bass walked by Ezekiel, who continued to stare at where he could last see Izzy. Some patted his shoulder in comfort, last of them Duncan.

"Bet you're feeling really let down, huh prairie boy?" the punk asked him.

"Yeah."

"Shame, especially after what she said to you."

Ezekiel frowned at him. "What she was teasing me about after the last challenge wasn't what was on my mind, you pervert."

"Oh, that too, but that wasn't what I was think about either."

"Really?"

"Yeah man, you two just confessed you loved each other, and now she's gone," the punk said. "Damn, that really does suck. I really do hope you see her again, dude."

"Thanks, Duncan."

The prairie boy headed for their cabin, still looking downcast. Duncan would have too, but a whispering hiss from behind the trees caught his attention.

It turned out to be Leshawna. "What's up, babe?" he asked. "You here to taunt me or something? Your team won, so go ahead, run it in."

"Baby Boy, you are so clueless at times," she said.

Before he could ask what she meant by that, she grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him over. Pressing her lips to his, a pleasant shiver ran up his spine.

"Hot damn," he muttered when she released him. "Leshawna... wow."

"You like that?"

"Hell, I love it! So what, you couldn't wait any longer for me, babe?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Baby Boy. I told you you had to prove that you were a good guy, and I overheard you comforting Ezekiel.

Duncan shrugged. "His girlfriend just left with the police after her. I could relate in an introverted way."

"Well you better stay on the straight-and-narrow, Duncan, if you want more of my lusciousness."

He grinned. "Leshawna babe, for you, I finish my sentence and go straight to law school afterwards."

They embraced, kissing heatedly and earnestly; it had been way too long for both of them. The two continued to make out with the utmost passion until midnight, when Duncan pointed out, "Hey, it's midnight, babe," and Leshawna replied, "So what?" and they continued to make out.

* * *

**(Total Drama Island, Fast Forward)**

When the two teams were disintegrated, Chris held a disgusting eat-off of boys verses girls. The girls won after Ezekiel puked out the cockroach shots, even though seconds later Leshawna was hurling too.

Eva and DJ returned to the island after Chris announced it to be a free-for-all. Leshawna won the first painful, FFA challenge, and the vengeful Eva was booted off (much to Bridgette's relief).

During the scavenger hunt, Heather launched a plan to get Trent and Gwen to break up. When Leshawna heard from a brokenhearted Gwen, she rallied the other campers, and Trent got the boot; however, he had a chance to explain himself, and he and Gwen made up.

Chef Hatchet hunted down the campers one-by-one with a water gun, and at the end, Leshawna and Heather had immunity. Duncan rallied the remaining guys to vote off one of the girls (who were too much at odds to work together). The punk at first wanted to vote off Bridgette, but Geoff and Ezekiel wouldn't hear of it.

"Dude, why do you care?" Duncan asked Geoff. "You know that Bridgette is in love with Harold."

"She's still my friend," Geoff said, "and she was our teammate, dude. So please?"

Duncan, who was trying to be a 'nice guy' for Leshawna, conceded. They voted off Courtney instead, and she was _not_ happy.

The next challenge was a cycling match, and Heather back stabbed Lindsay, eliminating the beautiful blond. The other campers glared at the treacherous queen bee, but it was Lindsay who truly stood up to Heather and cursed her out before leaving.

Chris set up a horror-themed challenge next, in which the contestants were judged by their reactions to a chain saw-wielding serial killer with a hook (which was Chef). Duncan defeated Chef, Gwen defeated a _real_ chain saw-wielding serial killer with a hook, and poor DJ had to leave for panicking and running without even seeing a killer.

The campers were sent to retrieve certain animals. Bridgette was the first to win, winning herself a vegetarian meal. Duncan tried to use a tranquilizer gun, and accidentally tranked Chef Hatchet, Heather, and Ezekiel.

"I swear, the thing's aim was so off, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn," the punk cursed.

But the damage was done, and the votes against him were enough to send him off the island. He did get to kiss Leshawna good-bye for as long as they wanted, because Chef was still tranquilized, and Chris would not dare anger Leshawna _and_ Duncan.

The next challenge, handcuffed together, seemed like retribution from the voted off criminal. Gwen and Geoff bonded during their time together, and Leshawna and Bridgette worked very well together, but Ezekiel came darn close to throttling Heather.

"Stop insulting my girlfriend," the normally calm prairie boy roared at Heather, startling the queen bee who had been berating Izzy upon seeing the wooden bust of the redhead. "Or I'll brain you with the camper who has the biggest head! Who would that be... um... oh, here! Owen! You wanna be brained by an Owen bust, eh?"

Ezekiel and Heather had won the first challenge, and Leshawna and Bridgette won two challenges, leaving Geoff and Gwen the only ones available to be voted for. Geoff was picked, and he left in good spirits.

"You're a really cool guy, Geoff," Bridgette said to him, giving a hug good-bye.

"You're awesome, Bridge. I hope you and Harold are reunited soon," he said, then blanched. "No, wait, I didn't mean it like that! You win this thing, then get reunited with him! I didn't mean to imply that-"

"Relax, party man, she knew what you meant," Gwen said

After she handed him back his camera that she had angrily thrown into the water beforehand, Geoff asked Ezekiel to take a picture of him and the two girls. The prairie boy did, but was squirted in the eye upon pushing the button, and a fish wriggled out of the device onto his shoe.

While Chris was interviewing the campers at Playa des Losers, he tricked them into voting Leshawna off. The loud sister wasn't so loud when she was forced onto the Boat of Losers by Chef, and arrived at the fancy resort with a contorted, thunderstruck expression on her face.

Duncan was throttling Trent, shouting, "You idiot, you just _had_ to try and correct Chris at the end there, didn't you?! And where's that bird?! I'm gonna make it an ex-parrot!"

Amazingly, it was Leshawna who had to cool Duncan's jets. The sister, though furious when she heard the truth, only blamed Chris.

"He tricked you all, and from what I gathered, none of you meant to vote me off," she said to them.

"No, we didn't," Courtney said, who looked guilty. "He just counted us as voting for you for saying your name, even in objection!"

"Yeah, the one time Lindsay finally got your name right," Noah remarked, "was when she said it then. Twice."

Leshawna spent some alone time after hearing their reasoning, and Duncan didn't see her until later that night. She was sitting on the dock of the resort, staring out at the sea in the direction Wawanakwa Island was.

"You okay, babe?" he asked her as he sat down next to her.

"I was so damn close," she replied, melancholy. "Four more campers, just four more. And I'll bet Heather's over there, laughing her head off."

"Screw Heather," Duncan replied bluntly. "That bitch will get hers, there is no way the others will let her win."

"She's come pretty far, Duncan. What if she wins? What if that back stabbing, two-timing, haughty-voiced harlot wins this contest?"

Leshawna bunched up her fists. "Would a fair God allow something like that to happen?"

Duncan shrugged, secretly admiring how attractive Leshawna looked flared up like this. "Well babe, I remember a wise quote from the internet. 'A kind God would not allow such a thing, and a cruel God would have just made the air sulfuric acid.'

"Bridgette, Gwen, and Ezekiel will win the day. Those three are tough. Bridgette could keep up with you during the triathlon, Gwen beat up a real serial killer, and Ezekiel's dating Izzy."

Leshawna relaxed and smiled at her boyfriend. "Duncan, you've come a long way."

"I've learned, Leshawna. You have ripped some of my ego and manliness apart, but hey, I could totally eviscerated by you and be cool with it."

"What romantic words, Baby Boy."

"Ugh, are you going to keep calling me that?"

"Yeah, it has a nice ring to it."

She kissed him, and he kissed back. They smooched under the glowing moon up in the night sky, kissing until long past midnight, when Duncan said, "Babe, it's past midnight," and she replied, "And?"

"Well, we could probably get more privacy in one of our rooms, plus it's cold out here." She raised a dubious eyebrow, and he held up his hands in defense to the wordless accusation.

"Okay Baby Boy, but you ain't getting past second base."

"Of course babe, I... wait, we're going to second base?"

"Think you can handle me that far, sugar?"

Duncan chuckled wickedly and punched his palm lightly. "Bring it on, sexy mama."

She lifted him up and carried him bridal style. "Wait no," he cried out. "Not like this, Leshawna, what if someone sees us?"

"You'll have to grin and bear it, Baby Boy. A little humiliation is worth some luscious Leshawna, is it not?"

"Damn straight."

* * *

**(Challenge 22 and 23, Camp Castaways and Wawanakwa Trek)**

The first of the two challenges for the final four campers turned out to be nothing but a colossal waste of time and quite dangerous too. Ezekiel, Bridgette, Heather, and Gwen were all given marshmallows, while the "camper" to be voted off was a rat that Ezekiel was caring for under his toque.

"He was all alone on that fake island you left us on, eh," the prairie boy tried to justify himself to the three horrified girls. "I wasn't a'boot to leave him there when there were eagles and giant snakes and possibly interns long ago abandoned!"

The rat was shipped away on the Boat of Losers, where Harold happily adopted it and put in a cage. "Bridgette's an animal lover," he explained to Leshawna. "She'd approve of this."

"Boy, if you think a girl's gonna approve a rat in the house, you messed up upstairs."

The next challenge for the final four actually turned out to be the real challenge, if one could use the word "challenge" to describe it. Chef simply left the four campers deep in the woods, telling them that Heather and Bridgette were one team, and Ezekiel and Gwen were the other.

Despite not getting along at first, Gwen and Ezekiel became friends and won the challenge. It devastated them when Chef gave the last marshmallow to Heather.

"Why didn't we get to vote?" Gwen shouted at the cook, daring to stand up to him.

"Because it was my choice, maggot, and Fancy Pants Material Girl makes for better TV than the sweet, nice, nature girl!"

Gwen would later that night slip laxatives in Chef's stash of chocolate for revenge.

Bridgette walked the Dock of Shame with her bag and surfboard, ignoring Heather's cruel taunting. She gave Gwen a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks.

"You can win this, I know you can," the surfer told her. "You're amazing, Gwen."

"Thanks, Bridgette. Please say hi to Trent for me. Oh, and Harold too!"

"Will do!"

Bridgette then came to Ezekiel, who was shaking with his head hanging. "Zeke, are you okay?" she asked him.

He looked up, and she saw the tears in his eyes. "I'm soo'ry," he sobbed, hugging her suddenly. "We didn't mean fur you to get voted off!"

"Zeke, Zeke," she said, stroking his back and trying to calm him down. She turned and looked at Gwen. "He's been really emotional since Izzy left."

"You're telling me?" the goth girl asked ironically. "He burst into tears when we were out in the woods, sobbing about how much he missed her, and was worried that he wouldn't see her again."

"That was because we hadn't found her 'oot there, and she was last seen fleeing 'oot there, eh," Ezekiel said.

Bridgette said one final good-bye to Ezekiel and Gwen before boarding the Boat of Losers. When Chef Hatchet tried to pull a prank on her by dressing up as the Sasquatchinakwa, she screamed, grabbed her surfboard, and hit him on the head. After noticing it was a mask, the surfer was horrified; she had, after all, cracked her favorite surfboard when she hit him.

Her worry vanished when she saw the large amount of ex-campers gathered at the Playa des Losers dock waiting for her. Beth, holding Justin's hand, leapt up and down.

"There she ith," the farm girl cheered. "And... oh wow, she knocked out Chef!"

"Really?" Justin asked, narrowing his eyes. "Wow! Way to go, surfer girl!"

Bridgette waded through the crowd of sympathetic surfers. Courtney pushed some of them aside as she tried to get her friend to the pool.

"You have no idea how much of a hormonal madhouse this place is, it's sickening," the CIT told her. "All Tyler and Lindsay do is make out, all Duncan and Leshawna do is make out, and all Beth and Justin do is giggle and make out!"

"Beth and Justin are making out?" Bridgette asked, delighted.

"Yeah, but it's kind of weird. They exchange these little kisses because she's afraid her braces might cut his lips."

The surfer girl raised an eyebrow at Courtney. "And you know this how?"

Courtney's face flushed, her freckles being highlighted. She nervously tapped her fingers together and said, "Well... it's not like I stare... or watch... but they are out here when everyone else is..."

Bridgette giggled at her friend. She then noticed someone approaching towards her, and she stopped short: it was Harold.

The lanky nerd was there exactly as she remembered him last: from his green glasses, to his blue shirt with the hamburger logo, right down to his big shoes. He walked up to her, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"I'm really glad to see you," he said to her, "but I'm also really sorry you lost."

Bridgette smiled back at him, nodding slightly. She felt someone tugging at her belongings, and turned around to see Leshawna taking her surfboard and Duncan taking her bag.

"Girlfriend," Leshawna said, "we're freeing your hands. Now go give him some sugar!"

"It's what we've all been waiting for," Duncan said with a wink.

Bridgette blushed, and turned back to Harold. She threw herself on him for a big hug, and then cupped his face in her hands.

"I hope you're a man now, Harold," she whispered, "because you and I will be seeing each other a lot more now."

She kissed him, and when he kissed back, Playa des Losers exploded in cheering, whistles, and applause. Even Eva and Geoff, the latter still a little crestfallen, were voicing their approval.

When Bridgette and Harold walked off to be alone, the campers dispersed to do their own thing. Geoff watched the reunited couple until they were out of sight, and then sighed. A friendly hand patted his shoulder.

"Will you accept a drink from a man who knows how you feel?" Cody said to him.

"Sure thing, bra."

* * *

**(Total Drama Island - The Last Two Challenges)**

Ezekiel won over twenty freebies during the Triple Dog Dare competition. "If I'm gonna date Izzy, I have got to prove I can be as wild as she is, eh," he explained to Gwen.

The goth girl thought this was a little extreme, and when the prairie boy offered her half his freebies, she was startled. "Why?" was all she could ask.

"I'm sick of tired of Heather insulting my girlfriend, eh," Ezekiel said, then winked at her. "Besides, what are friends fur, eh?"

Exchanging a high-five, the two sent Heather down a miserable road of disturbing and disgusting dares. It lasted some time until she disqualified herself when she, accidentally getting her head shaved in the process.

"She looks like that woman from the first _Star Trek_ movie, eh," Ezekiel declared.

"Nah, that woman was attractive," Gwen said. "And if you're wondering how I know about that, my brother's a Star Trek nerd."

"So's my dad, eh."

They were interrupted when Heather let out a scream that could be heard all the way at Playa des Losers. Shouting threats and insults, the queen bee was finally shipped off of Wawanakwa Island.

When it was finally time for the final contest, Gwen and Ezekiel were stoked to see most of their former campers. When Harold and Bridgette arrived holding hands, the two finalists cheered.

"I knew you two were gonna get together," Gwen cheered.

Though Ezekiel was thrilled for the two, as he was for Leshawna and Duncan, and Beth and Justin, he couldn't help but feel discouraged when he saw Izzy wasn't there.

"Sorry dude, no one's seen her since the RCMP chased her off," Chris informed him.

As Chris proceeded to recite some kind of legal statement, which was about as enthralling as Top Ramen instructions, Ezekiel saw Beth trying to signal him. The farm girl tossed him a friendship bracelet, and the prairie boy stared at it. There was a written message on the back:

_I'm watching, just still hiding from RCMP a little bit more. Love you! Izzy_

Ezekiel instantly brightened, and waved at Beth. She grinned and flashed him a thumbs-up.

Justin looked at his girlfriend strangely. "Why'd you do that?" he asked her. "We're rooting for Gwen."

"I felt it only fair, sthince Gwen's got Trent cheering for her," Beth insisted. "And, Justin, I promisthed Ithzzy."

The male model smiled at her, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "That's my girl. Fair and kindhearted. Makes me wish I could be that generous."

"You'll learn, you'll learn," Beth said, giggling. "If Leshawna can tame Duncan, I can certainly make you more of a fair gentleman."

"Whoa, is that a threat or a promise?"

"Both," she said, and she smiled at him with a determined gleam in her eyes. It almost scared him, but the shiver that went up his spine didn't unnerve him enough to prevent him from smirking right back at her.

"We'll see, Beth, we'll see."

The host finished up his legal speech. "Okay then, Ezekiel and Gwen," he declared. "Are you ready?"

Ezekiel fiddled with the moose hat on top of his toque. "Um sure, eh. You ready, Gwen?"

She rolled her eyes up at the chicken hat on her dyed hair. "I guess, but I still don't know why we need to wear these."

"It's Chris, eh," Ezekiel said with a shrug. He stuck his hand out towards her and added, "Best of luck to you, Gwen."

She smiled and shook it. "Thanks, Ezekiel. Right back at 'cha."

"Ready then?" Chris asked. "Then... ready... set... and GO!!!"

* * *

**(Total Drama Island - After the Final Challenge)**

"And so," Chris Maclean announced, standing at the center of attention of Playa des Losers, "I'd like to once again congratulate our winner of Total Drama Island! Overcoming twenty-one other campers, twenty-three challenges, falling in love, risking life and limb for the grand prize of one hundred thousand dollars...

"... give it up for our grand winner, Ezekiel!"

The prairie boy blushed at the cheering and applause around the resort. "Thanks, Chris," he said, moving over next to the host.

"Must be quite a thrill for you, eh?" the host asked, beaming at the winner.

"Kind of, I guess."

"You _guess_? Good golly man, you just won a hundred grand! Why aren't you more stoked?"

Ezekiel shrugged. "It doesn't seem like that much right now, eh."

"Is that so?"

The host suddenly grinned at him. "Well then, Ezekiel, we have a little surprise for you."

"What's that, eh?"

Chris opened his mouth, and a high-pitched holler cut him off. He, like so many others, looked around towards the direction the Tarzan yell came from. They didn't see much but a green-and-red blur come in at an arc, and glomp-smash Ezekiel, knocking him and the attacker into the pool.

When they surfaced, his vine-swinging attacker grinned and wrapped a pair of slender arms around his waist. "So I heard you won a hundred thousand dollars while I was gone, huh prairie boy?"

"Izzy!"

Ezekiel hugged his girlfriend as close as he could, almost sobbing in joy. "Oh God, I missed you so much, eh!"

"I missed you too! I just had to clear up some things with the RCMP that took, like, forever. I swear, some of the 'evidence' against me was so clearly forged that a child could detect it. So after having it out with a lawyer, they let me go with a warning and told me that I wasn't allowed within forty-five yards of a flame-thrower."

Ezekiel listened and waited for her story to come to an end. "Is your story done?" he asked.

"Yes, why do you-mffff!"

He kissed her, four weeks of missing her worth of passion. The crowd went wild.

"That's nice," Chris commented, cranky. "But that _wasn't_ the surprise I was going to offer you! You totally just ruined the setup, Izzy!"

"Oh, sit and spin, Maclean," Izzy replied.

As the campers laughed, Justin noticed Beth was looking at Izzy with keen interest. "Don't tell me you'd ever do something like that?" he asked her. "You're not gonna come swinging in on a vine and glomp me, are you?"

"Naw, I'd be too worried about ruining your good looks, Justin."

Justin chuckled, then looked to the side. "You know... for you, and I cannot believe I'm saying this... I don't think I'd mind."

Beth beamed at him, then put her hand on his face for a kiss.

* * *

"Total Drama didn't stop there," Beth explained. "It actually took quite a lot more seasons before we were finally free of Chris Maclean's clutches. But we were, by the end of TDI, so totally in love."

"And even after then, there was a lot of press and fame to be had," Justin added, leaning back and smiling.

"Dad, don't interrupt, mom tells the story better!"

Justin made a comical face of surprise as Beth and their two kids laughed. "Well, kids," Beth said after she was finished laughing, "it's actually time for you to go to bed."

The two children wailed in protest. "Now there, Bertha, Lindsay," Justin scolded them. "You two know how a good amount of sleep is something to be treasured."

"That's because Chris Maclean wouldn't let you sleep in ever, right?" Bertha asked, nodding as she talked and shaking her brown ponytail around.

Lindsay, who had her father's ebony hair, picked at her braces. "Whatever happened to him anyway?"

"That's a story for another time, sweetheart. Let's go to bed now."

Justin went and tucked in their kids, then headed back to his wife. "That's a story for a time a long time from now, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah," Beth agreed, nodding. Her husband sat down next to her and stroked her hair as she sighed. "It's still hard to believe that Chris Maclean died during that last season of TD."

"Drunk on his favorite ATV," Justin mused. "I still remember his whooping scream as he drove right over that cliff."

"I still remember how Chef Hatchet cheered when he went off, and then again when he hit the ground," Beth recalled. "I was too horrified at the time to find it funny, and I don't think I do still."

"Yeah... but he died as he lived, making things difficult for other people."

"Chef Hatchet didn't like hosting, did he?"

"Nope," Justin said, then turned her head to face his and kissed her sweetly. "I still remember how you suggested that this mean he could lay off cooking, and he started stomping his feet like a child having a fit."

"Our kids have yet to throw a fit like Chef could," Beth said, giggling. She lay her head in Justin's lap, allowing herself to be stroked more. "Oh by the way, Lindsay's coming over tomorrow."

"Is she bringing Beth?"

"Yep."

"I still cannot believe you two agreed to name the kids like that."

"Oh hush, you and Tyler were okay with it at the time."

"What could we do? Our wives had just given birth for the first time each at the same time. We'd be sleeping on the couch to this day and beyond if we had argued with you."

* * *

"And that's the story of how your mom Izzy swooped in and swept your father off his feet!"

Izzy's audience blinked in surprise, then started to ask questions.

"I thought you knocked him into the pool, eh?"

"Can't daddy be the one swooping in to sweep you off your feet? That's moo'r romantic, eh!"

"How'd you find a vine at a fancy resort, mommy?"

Izzy narrowed her eyes at her three children. "You calling mommy a liar? RAWR!"

She bared her teeth and rose up, her kids shrieking gleefully as Mommy Monster chased them around the house, then into their room. The two little girls and the boy were considerate in that they wouldn't run fast, because mom's fifth-month pregnant belly kept even Izzy down.

Once she plopped down exhausted on the couch, there was a knock on the door. "Can I come in now, eh?"

"Yes, sweetheart!"

Ezekiel walked in, looking upset. "How come I have to leave the room when you tell stories? I love seeing the kids so happy, eh!"

"You interject too often, love. I hate that, and I don't want to get mad in front of the kids, eh."

"That's why you become Mommy Monster, eh?"

Izzy crossed her arms and smirked at him. "Look pal, I have to make an impression somehow! Summer and Skye talk like you, and E-Scope is wearing a toque!"

"You gonna call him E-Scope even when he's not a'roond, eh?" Ezekiel asked as he plopped down next to his wife. "When is he going to get over his mom's nickname?"

"I dunno, I think E-Scope fits both girl and boy," Izzy said as she rubbed her round stomach. "Let's call this one Crow, just in case he never drops it."

Ezekiel chuckled before he kissed her, then kissed her belly. "I doo'nt knoo', I had my heart set on Imani."

"No, I get to name all the kids so long as we keep having them," Izzy said, firm but with that happy lilt to her voice. "After all, you get my big, fat, enlarged boobs as long as we have kids."

"True, eh. But what happens when we decide we doo'nt want another kid?"

"Not possible, since we just can't keep off each other, eh."

"True a'geen."

"I still find it really cool how we both waited for marriage. I'm still surprised we managed to wait that long."

"So totally worth it, eh. But speaking of which..."

Ezekiel cupped his wife's face and said, "Tonight is the anniversary of the end of Total Drama Island, eh."

"I know that, that's why I was telling the kids the story! And you're not supposed to remember these dates, I am and then I get mad and throw things! I haven't thrown something in a long time now, I miss chucking things at people."

"Snoo's reported for tomoo'row, eh."

"Goody. We'll have a snowball fight with the kids, and they wouldn't dare hit mommy and her belly."

"We've digressed, Izzy," he said as he lifted her up off the couch bridal style. "Time for us to relieve that one night where we made out longer so long, I puffed up your lips."

"Ooo, I remember that fondly, my Zeke."

* * *

"Go to bed, damn it," Duncan shouted, waving his hands in the air. "Don't make me get a club or something!"

"Duncan, don't threaten Falco like that!"

"Then how should I threaten him?"

"Night mom, night dad! I'm going to bed for real this time!"

There was the sound of a door closing, then Duncan leaned against the counter, sighing miserably. "Explain to me again why we decided to have a kid."

"Duncan, I'll come over there and beat your ass if you keep talking like that."

"Aw come on, Leshawna! We used to have sex all the time, now we're both tired and old and cranky-"

"Speak for yourself, Baby Boy, I'm just tired."

"It's hard to have sex when you've got kids, why didn't anyone ever tell me that?" Duncan complained as he sat down. "No one ever tells you these things!"

"No, they probably did, you just didn't listen," she said as she ruffed his black hair. He looked up at her and sighed.

"I just miss our time together is all, Leshawna. We were so much closer during those seasons on Total Drama, and now it's like we barely see each other. Your job, my job, him being home when we're both home. We have to wait for him to move out until we can have sex any time we want again!"

"Is that your vision for everything?" she asked, smirking. "When we can have sex more often?"

Duncan shrugged. "Well, it's what we do when we have free time. Not my fault if you cannot get enough of me."

"Hey Baby Boy, it's you who cannot get enough of me!"

They play-wrestled a little, then Duncan grabbed his wife's arm and pulled her close for a kiss. "One of these days, I _will_ get you to stop calling me that."

"You've been saying that since the first day we met, sugar. It ain't gonna happen."

"Meh, it's just taken time. I'll wear you down eventually."

"Not likely, Baby Boy. Now c'mon here."

She pulled him onto her lap as she sat down and they began to kiss. Sweet and long, just like they always kissed.

"Hey sugar," Duncan said breathlessly between kisses, "wanna have sex when the rugrat is asleep?"

"Fo' sho', hon."

"What's 'sex'?"

Duncan and Leshawna looked around to see their son standing just a few feet away.

"Um, you tell him, dear," Duncan said to Leshawna.

* * *

"Tomorrow is a big day for all of us," Bridgette said to her kids. "Remember, I want you on your bestest behavior when we visit Gwen and Trent. They're very good friends of mommy and daddy!"

The older one, Ocean, nodded. "We promise, mommy! And I promise you too, daddy!"

The younger one, Napoleon, rolled his eyes. "When have we ever misbehaved in front of your friends? We're not _idiots_, mom."

"No lip from you, young man," Harold chastised his son. "Now go to bed, or ninjas will get you!"

"Eeek, ninjas," Ocean squealed, giggling as she trotted off to her room.

Napoleon raised an eyebrow at his dad and held up his weapon: plastic nunchucks. "I'm not afraid of ninjas, dad, but I will protect my sister from them."

"Good man. Now off to bed."

"Yes, dad."

He walked off, lazily spinning his nunchucks. Bridgette helped them upstairs, tucked them in as she always did every night (despite Napoleon's protests that he could do it himself, gosh), and then joined her husband back downstairs.

"He's still mad mom tucks him in," she said to Harold as she sat down.

"He loves being independent," her husband said, shrugging. "Oh well, Ocean makes up for it by loving to do everything with us, so it all balances out."

"Mmm-hmmm," Bridgette hummed, wrapping her arms around him. "Harold, did you know that today was the day Total Drama Island ended?"

"Vaguely," he admitted. "I remember how Izzy and Ezekiel looked like spy-ops teams when tracking down that case."

"Me too! Speaking of which, you know she's pregnant again?"

"Izzy? Gosh! That's their, what, fourth kid then?"

"Yep. And people thought we were the sexually active ones."

Harold smiled at his wife, and kissed her forehead. "Those were the days, huh?"

"Oh yeah. But we were very lucky I didn't get pregnant then. Mother would have killed me."

"No, she would have killed me."

"No way, mom loves you way too much. The way she would talk about you after you met her for the first time, one would have thought she was dating a handsome young man named Harold."

He laughed at this. They sat there, him stroking her back and her leaning happily against his shoulder. "Harold?" she said, breaking the silence after a while. "Speaking of another kid... would you like to have another one?"

"You want to? Really?" he asked, looking surprised.

"It's not just because Izzy's pregnant... well, it's encouraged it, but I have put some thought into it. I really think Ocean and Napoleon would like another sibling."

Harold tapped his chin. "Gosh, Bridgette, can I think about it for a bit?"

"Of course, hon. But I'm surprised you need to think about it. You know how randy I got when I was pregnant, huh?"

She wiggled her shoulders, accidentally hitting his forehead with her right. After apologizing and nursing the wound with kisses and caresses, Harold let out a soft chuckle. "I just remember how you drove me crazy wondering and worrying about every little thing, as if every tiny movement or sound the babies made was a sign we had already doomed their future."

"I _promise_ I will not be like that this time! Ocean is the sweetest girl in Canada, and Napoleon is like his dad, so things turned out perfectly."

"You know, I did want to have a girl named Samus."

"Are you gonna try to name our kids after your video game characters?" she asked, giggling.

"Well, if she has blond hair like you, and wears it in a ponytail like you did back then, it'd be awesome."

"Oh sweetheart," Bridgette cooed, kissing his cheek. She nuzzled him and said, "Do you remember when we first met?"

"Sure do. You knocked me off the dock with your surfboard."

Bridgette winced. "Oh yeah. I keep forgetting that. I do remember better parts of our time then, like when I saved you after Duncan threw you off the cliff, or when you saved me when I blew the talent show."

"I remember our first kiss," he said, stroking her sides. "Ocean loves me telling her about that day."

"I remember when we were reunited after I was kicked off TDI. Incredible night."

"I remember when we caught Geoff making out with Courtney in the room we were going to make out in," Harold said with a laugh. "Those two were the on-off couple of the show, weren't they?"

"For sure," Bridgette said. "Courtney drove me crazy with her drama queen routine over that." She rubbed her husband's chest. "Harold? Do you remember the night we first made love?"

"You're kidding, right? Of course I do."

"That was such an incredible night. It was everything my teenage girl fantasies were about losing my virginity."

"Teenage girls have fantasies about that?"

"Of course we did, silly. You think only boys do?"

"No, I guess not."

"Hmmm, you were so gentle and loving and yet so passionate and hot," Bridgette cooed as she continued to caress his chest. "I almost thought you had done it before, it was so good."

"Well, I didn't want to admit to you then, but the fantasy novels I read did have a lot of detailed love scenes, so I had references in memory."

Bridgette burst out laughing, as her husband and lover of many years still managed to blush over this tidbit of information. "You wonderful nerd, you," she gushed. "What, were they about human warriors bedding elven princesses?"

"No, the elf ladies were always warriors too."

"Awesome," Bridgette said. "Kind of funny to learn the secret of how I lost my virginity."

"Too weird for you?"

"Of course not, Harold. I fell in love with that weirdness, remember? I fell in love with you, for weirdness or in health, 'till death do we part."

Harold cupped his wife's face, just like he did the first time he had done this, and kissed her. She kissed back, wrapping her arms around his neck. They kissed until Bridgette swooned and leaned back, letting her husband lay on her as they continued to make out.

During the kissing, they repeated the words they loved to say during moments like these.

"I'm so totally in love with you, Bridgette."

"I'm so totally in love with you, Harold."

**The End.**

* * *

--

--

--

So there it is, my overly sentimental V-Day present. Winter-Rae, I really hope you liked it. This was a lot of fun to write, though there were a lot of scenes I had never written before. I hope I wasn't too cheesy or too overdone. Sorry I didn't get too much Beth and Justin in.

Just in case you're wondering why the kids have their names, here's a little guide:

**Beth and Justin's Kids** - **Bertha** is the name of Beth's pet pig, and **Lindsay** is after their fellow TD contestant; it was something that happened when the two Best French Friends for Life gave birth at the same time. Lindsay named her daughter Beth, Beth named her daughter Lindsay, and their husbands didn't get to argue about it.

**Izzy and Ezekiel's Kids** - **Summer** is a season like 'Winter'-Rae. **Skye** is based off of cjl1217's original character on Deviant Art (a city girl who likes the Zeke). **Crow** is after the MST3K (my favorite show) lovable wisecracker. **Imani**, Zeke's choice of name, is just Imagi with one letter changed, and she is fellow writer here and the creator of Ezzy pairing.

**Duncan and Leshawna's Kid** - **Falco** after the blue guy from the Star Fox video game series. I wanted a video game character, and he fits these two perfectly (Falco's a tough as nails guy with a good heart, and he comes from an unsettling upbringing that is rumored to include an abandoned life of crime).

**Harold and Bridgette's Kids** - **Ocean** was Winter-Rae's idea for a girl born from Bridge and Harold, so I guess I stole that (sorry, Winter-Rae!). **Napoleon** is based off of the obvious inspiration for Harold's character, Napoleon Dynamite. **Samus**, Harold's choice of name, is Samus Aran from the Metroid game series; she is a woman in an orange suit of armor, and in SSBB, she wears her hair just like Bridgette does.

So there you all are! Much love, romance, and peace to you all!


End file.
